The Joy of Mashing Bananas

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Abstract

dents when I teach on campus). So I make my choices for baking implements based on what helps me enjoy the process of baking.One of my favorite kitchen tools is my pastry blender. It’s made from stainless steel. It’s very compact, with a handle and set of metal pieces that are kind of like the tines of a fork but bigger and looped from end to end of the handle. The name comes from the fact that you can use it to blend or cut butter into flour when making (for example) a pie crust, instead of using a fork.I like to use my pastry blender to mash bananas to bake banana muffins or banana bread. For many years, I would mostly make muffins, but somehow I switched over to bread, I think at first because I liked using a loaf pan I’d found with a vintage design, and then I just came to prefer the ease of dumping the batter into the pan, and putting the pan into the dishwasher (something I can’t do with my muffin tin).Yes, I find joy in mashing the bananas to bake a quickbread. I use two or three soft bananas, however many I have on hand. I have a couple of different recipes I like, one with more spices like ginger and cloves, an

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d one with chocolate chips.There’s a gentle resistance between the bananas and the pastry blender that brings to mind what you could feel as a kid when mashing up Play-Doh. There’s satisfaction in watching the whole bananas turn into small pieces and then into the almost-liquid beginnings of a batter that’s waiting for you to measure and add the sugar and flour and so on.Did you know that you can also use a mashed banana as a vegan substitute in baking things like cakes and cookies? It can be subbed for an egg or for butter in some recipes. Bananas are just waiting on your countertop to be useful in your kitchen.I even had a banana “milkshake” once at a vegan restaurant. The chef put frozen bananas into the blender instead of ice cream, along with some cocoa powder (and I think maybe sugar as it was sweet and delicious). You can also make banana shakes with mix-ins like peanut butter and vanilla extract, thinning the consistency with plant milk as needed.What’s your favorite recipe with mashed or blended bananas? And what’s your favorite simple utensil or tool to use in the kitchen?</article></body>

For muffins or bread or many other treats

Baking feels relaxing to me, and I know this comes in part from the slow, familiar, and deliberate physical actions of baking. I like to stir with a spoon rather than use a hand mixer, and if I do need more power, I prefer the feel of a hand mixer over a big stand mixer.

I know I can be sentimental. I took home my grandma’s hand mixer when my dad and I packed up her kitchen, but it was heavier and noisier than mine, so I donated it to the thrift shop and carried on with using my own (which I imagine I’ve had for over twenty years if I had to guess).

I bake as a casual hobbyist. I bake for my own fun and to share treats with family and friends (and students when I teach on campus). So I make my choices for baking implements based on what helps me enjoy the process of baking.

One of my favorite kitchen tools is my pastry blender. It’s made from stainless steel. It’s very compact, with a handle and set of metal pieces that are kind of like the tines of a fork but bigger and looped from end to end of the handle. The name comes from the fact that you can use it to blend or cut butter into flour when making (for example) a pie crust, instead of using a fork.

I like to use my pastry blender to mash bananas to bake banana muffins or banana bread. For many years, I would mostly make muffins, but somehow I switched over to bread, I think at first because I liked using a loaf pan I’d found with a vintage design, and then I just came to prefer the ease of dumping the batter into the pan, and putting the pan into the dishwasher (something I can’t do with my muffin tin).

Yes, I find joy in mashing the bananas to bake a quickbread. I use two or three soft bananas, however many I have on hand. I have a couple of different recipes I like, one with more spices like ginger and cloves, and one with chocolate chips.

There’s a gentle resistance between the bananas and the pastry blender that brings to mind what you could feel as a kid when mashing up Play-Doh. There’s satisfaction in watching the whole bananas turn into small pieces and then into the almost-liquid beginnings of a batter that’s waiting for you to measure and add the sugar and flour and so on.

Did you know that you can also use a mashed banana as a vegan substitute in baking things like cakes and cookies? It can be subbed for an egg or for butter in some recipes. Bananas are just waiting on your countertop to be useful in your kitchen.

I even had a banana “milkshake” once at a vegan restaurant. The chef put frozen bananas into the blender instead of ice cream, along with some cocoa powder (and I think maybe sugar as it was sweet and delicious). You can also make banana shakes with mix-ins like peanut butter and vanilla extract, thinning the consistency with plant milk as needed.

What’s your favorite recipe with mashed or blended bananas? And what’s your favorite simple utensil or tool to use in the kitchen?