Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Banana Nut Biscotti

I keep doing this. I keep buying bananas, and I keep letting them get mushy. Then I keep finding myself scrambling to find a recipe to use them up. So far, I've done banana bread, banana and chocolate chip cookies, and peanut butter banana cookies, along with an assortment of smoothies and peanut butter banana sandwiches. Another idea I had was to replace some of the oil in brownies (out of the box) with bananas. You could definitely taste a hint of banana in them, but banana and chocolate go together nicely, so it's a pretty good option if you ever find yourself in the same situation (or just want to make yourself feel less guilty about eating brownies).

So here I am, searching for a new banana idea and I found banana nut biscotti. And I've gotta say, I really like this one and might make it again in the future since I'm pretty sure I still haven't learned my lesson about not letting bananas get mushy on my watch.

I like these because they make a great snack, aren't too sweet (I'm mostly a salty kinda gal), and are relatively healthy. I even replaced some of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat and didn't even notice. Maybe next time I'll sub a bit more to see how much I can get away with before noticing.

Anyway, if you ever find yourself in a mushy banana predicament, I highly recommend giving this one a try.

I found this recipe on Culinary Adventures of a New Wife who got the recipe from Cooking Light. That makes this recipe a perfect candidate for the weekly Bookmarked Recipes event which was created by Ruth's Kitchen Experiment. Check out the roundup every Monday!







from Cooking Light


Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup mashed very ripe banana (about 1 banana)
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted
- Cooking spray

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife.
- Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Combine banana, oil, vanilla, and egg in a medium bowl; stir in flour mixture and pecans (dough will be sticky).
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; shape dough into 2 (8-inch-long) rolls with floured hands.
- Place rolls on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; flatten to 1/2-inch thickness.Bake at 350° for 23 minutes.
- Remove rolls from baking sheet; cool 10 minutes on a wire rack.
- Cut each roll diagonally into 12 (1/2-inch) slices.
- Place slices, cut sides down, on baking sheet. Reduce oven temperature to 250°; bake 15 minutes.
- Turn cookies over; bake an additional 15 minutes (cookies will be slightly soft in center but will harden as they cool).
- Remove from baking sheet; cool completely on wire racks.

20 comments:

What's Cookin Chicago said...

Mmm - I love banana nut biscotti! I used a Joy the Baker recipe that I adapted and I can't wait to try this version!

stephchows said...

These sound awesome!! I'll "bookmark" it for sure! I like to copy/paste into google notebook, it's like a traveling cookbook no matter what computer I"m on. I seriously add at least 5 new recipes a day to it haha. I have some catching up to do!

Melissa said...

I've never made biscotti, but I love all those flavors, I'll have to try this recipe.

Anonymous said...

Interesting about banana as an ingredient. So do these biscotti come out softer and moister because of it?

gaga said...

Carolyn - Nope, I didn't think it was any softer or moister than other biscotti. I did find that I had to bake it a bit longer than 15 minutes on each side to dry it out, but I also found out later that I don't think my oven gets as hot as it says it does.

Reeni said...

What a great idea! This is one way I've never had banana. They look delicious!

Jo said...

I've been meaning to make biscotti for ages now and still now not gotten to it yet. Yours is the 1st banana nut recipe that I've come across and I do love bananas in anything.

Anonymous said...

Gosh, I'll have to try putting banana into my biscotti sometime, and with pecans too. Definitely an intriguing combination!

MaryBeth said...

YUM-O...I love banana bread so this must be just out of this world good!!

Anonymous said...

Found myself in a mushy banana predicament this morning. Good thing I came across this recipe! Thanks!

Anonymous said...

These look delicious! I'm a big fan of banana bread and I've been wanting to try making biscotti. This recipe is bookmarked for future use!

Anonymous said...

Wow, that’s great! I’m keeping this recipe!

Anonymous said...

Great blog with super recipes and photos!
ronell

Anonymous said...

I have over-ripe bananas in the cupboard right now. Thanks for giving me an alternative recipe to banana bread. The biscotti looks wonderful. Thanks for contributing the recipe to the Bookmarked Recipes round-up.

Anonymous said...

I have never made biscotti. I love to try it one day. Your banana 7 nut comno sound great!

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Banana biscotti sounds fantastic!

Creative Classroom Core said...

Ooooh, this sounds heavenly! I can smell it from here!
I really love the banana/nut combo!

Thanks for sharing!

Beth said...

What a great recipe! I made these cookies last week and thoroughly enjoyed them. Since I'm not a fan of nuts, I used mini-chocolate chips. Thanks for posting this recipe!

foodhoe said...

ooh, I have two overripe bananas on the counter and I was just thinking how tired of banana bread I am... this looks great!