The Friday Feasts Continue...

Banana Cupcakes (Ala Elvis)

This is an awesome banana recipe and I use it to make plain muffins or bread, but with a few twists, you can have Elvis Cupcakes!

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium ones)

1 cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour (I mixed with wheat flour)

¾ cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

In a small bowl, combine bananas, mayonnaise, and vanilla until well blended.  In a large bowl, combine the rest of the dry ingredients and gradually into the banana mixture until blended.  I never combine the dry ingredients before mixing them in, I just add them slowly.  It doesn’t seem to make a difference.

Spoon into paper lined muffin pans (about 2/3 full) and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Cool for 10 minutes and put on a wire rack to finish cooling.

Options:

The original recipe I found has you putting a small amount of batter in the bottom of the pan, place a chocolate kiss upside down inside, and then finish covering with batter.  Then top with peanut butter icing.  My taste testers found the icing to be too much and I began baking the muffins with a peanut butter cup in the middle.  They are AMAZING!  You can put in chocolate chips, nuts, or anything you’d like.  They are delicious no matter how they are made.

Peanut Butter Icing (just in case)

1/3 cup peanut butter

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 to 4 tablespoons milk

In a large bowl, combine ingredients using only enough milk to achieve good spreading consistency.

Mom's Apple Cake

 My mom made this recipe all the time when we were growing up.  She would send a large pan out with my dad and brother went they'd go on Boy Scout campouts.  An empty pan would be the only leftover!

Cream together:

1 ¾ cups sugar

1 cup oil

3 eggs

Add to the creamed mixture:

2 cups flour (1/2 cup at a time)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon (I use a bit more)

¼ teaspoon salt

4 apples peeled, cored, and sliced thinly

(or in small pieces)

OPTIONAL:

½ cup raisins or ½ cup nuts (or both)

Grease and flour a 9X13 inch pan and bake

at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes.

Use a toothpick to test for doneness.

**My mom’s recipe says to bake nothing else when baking this cake. 

**You can scoop the batter into cupcake papers and bake for 18-20 minutes.

**You can use ½ white and ½ wheat flour with no noticeable difference.