A Nerd Cooks

... and bakes and mixes the occasional cocktail!

Bread

Hummingbird Banana Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting

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This Hummingbird Banana Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting is a delicious mashup of a Hummingbird Cake (a Southern classic) and banana bread.

Hummingbird Banana Bread | A Nerd Cooks

After making Carrot Cake Cupcakes recently, and realizing that I had an overabundance of overly ripe bananas (as usual), I got to thinking about other dessert recipes that used lots of fruit and or vegetables.

After some searching, I landed on Hummingbird Banana bread. It’s full of crushed pineapple, shredded coconut, chopped pecans, and mashed bananas (duh). The pineapple and bananas keep it really moist, while the coconut and pecans keep things interesting in terms of texture. It’s all slathered with some sweet, but not too sweet, cream cheese frosting and sprinkled with more chopped pecans.

Hummingbird Banana Bread | A Nerd Cooks

This recipe comes from A Latte Food.

5 from 1 vote
Hummingbird Banana Bread | A Nerd Cooks
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Hummingbird Banana Bread
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
35 mins
Total Time
55 mins
 
Course: Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 2 loaves
Ingredients
For the bread
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 8 oz crushed pineapple, with juice
  • 1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
  • 1 1/2 cups bananas (about 3-4 medium-sized), mashed
  • 1/3 cup pecans, chopped
Cream Cheese Frosting
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 8 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
Instructions
To make the bread
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9x4-inch loaf pans with cooking spray or butter. Set them aside.
  2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and kosher salt. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together until light and fluffy.
  4. Add the vanilla extract. Next, add the egg, one at a time. Beat until combined.

  5. Add the pineapple, shredded coconut, and mashed bananas to the wet ingredients. Mix until combined.

  6. Add the dry ingredients to the wet. Stir until they are just combined.

  7. Add the pecans and stir until they are just distributed throughout.

  8. Divide the batter between the two prepared loaf pans.

  9. Bake the bread for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick, when inserted into the center, comes out clean.

  10. Allow the loaves to cool in their pans for 10-15 minutes before removing them from the pans to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
To make the cream cheese frosting

  1. Beat the cream cheese and butter together until they are well combined. Add the vanilla extract and mix.

  2. Add the powdered sugar and mix until well combined.

  3. Spread the frosting over the cooled loaves. Sprinkle with chopped pecans.

Recipe Notes

Notes:

  • The listed preparation time does not include the time required to let the banana bread cool.
  • Store any leftovers in the fridge.

Want more banana bread-y recipes? Take a look at my Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Banana Bread, Healthy Chocolate Banana Bread, and Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Cookies!

Hummingbird Banana Bread | A Nerd Cooks

Pumpkin Beer Bread

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Fast, easy, and full of pumpkin and beer-y flavor. This bread is perfect for slathering with butter and dunking into some soup or chili.Pumpkin Beer Bread | A Nerd CooksIt’s the middle of September.  It is officially okay to blog about pumpkin recipes.  So says I.

After being sick for more than a week, I finally felt better last Sunday and went on a bit of a baking spree.  This beer bread was one of the recipes I tried.

The pumpkin flavor is pretty subtle, as are sort of traditional pumpkin spices.  It definitely predominantly has the flavors of the beer bread that we all know and love.

Though I’ve just been eating it warm with some butter, it would be great dunked in some Turkey White Bean Pumpkin Chili or Chicken Pumpkin Soup.  Or, you know, any non-pumpkin-based chili or soup.

Pumpkin Beer Bread | A Nerd Cooks

This recipe comes from Gimme Some Oven.

You’ll need:

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tbs baking powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp ground allspice
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 3 tbs honey
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 12 oz. bottle of beer (pumpkin beer recommended – I used Sam Adams’ 20 Pounds of Pumpkin)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan and set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves together.

Add the honey and pumpkin puree, stirring until combined.  This will be a little difficult.

Slowly add the beer and stir until combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick/knife comes out clean when inserted into the center.  Allow the bread to cool for 5-10 minutes before slicing in.

Pumpkin Beer Bread | A Nerd Cooks

Dutch Oven Bread

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I’m making yeast my bitch this year.  First there was King Cake, then cinnamon rolls, and now we have Dutch Oven Bread.  This recipe couldn’t be easier, and is really tasty.

Dutch Oven Bread | A Nerd Cooks

I found this recipe on the blog Bakes in Slippers.

You’ll need:

  • 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 1 1/3 cups water, room temperature
  • 2 1/2 tsp yeast
  • 1 1/4 tsp kosher salt

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add all of the ingredients.  Using the dough hook attachment, mix until a dough forms.  If it’s looking pretty shaggy, you can add a little more dough and continue mixing until it comes together a bit more.

Coat the inside of a medium to large sized bowl with cooking spray.  Scrape all of the dough into the prepared, greased, bowl.  Cover it tightly with cling wrap and store in a warm place for 2 hours, until the dough ball has doubled in size.

Put a Dutch oven in the oven, without the lid.  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.  This will allow the Dutch oven to get nice and toasty.

While the oven preheats, turn the dough ball out onto a floured surface.  Knead it slightly, forming a nice, neat ball.  Cover it with a towel and allow it to rise a bit more for 20 minutes longer.

Score the top with a knife (I made 3 parallel slits).

Remove the Dutch oven from the oven and carefully place the dough inside.  Put the Dutch oven’s lid on, and bake for 25 minutes.

Remove the lid and bake for 15 minutes longer.

Remove the bread from the Dutch oven and allow it to cool completely on a wire rack.

Pumpkin Cornbread

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I’ll keep this one brief =).  I served this cornbread alongside the turkey chili I posted yesterday.  They really go pretty perfectly together.  This recipe was originally found at Vittles and Bits.  


You will need:


1 cup all purpose flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup cornmeal
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tbs molasses (or honey)


Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and grease an 8×8 baking dish.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, and cornmeal.  


In a separate bowl, beat the eggs.  Add the pumpkin puree, oil, and honey.  Stir to combine.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined.  Pour the batter into the greased pan, and smooth the top out as much as possible.


Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean in the center.






It was super easy to throw together, and went perfectly with the turkey chili I made over the weekend.  It still tastes like the cornbread that we are all familiar with, but had a nice pumpkin-y background.  Serve it warm, slather it with some butter, dunk it in some chili, and you’re good to go!