Iowa Church Cookbook Recipes: Banana Bars

I've officially declared this the summer of bananas.  I've baked up three different varieties of banana bread, and then I followed it up with these banana bars.  I remember eating these little bars with their rich cream-cheese frosting at our after-church gatherings when I was a kid.  These bars are so easy to bake, I'm not sure why I don't make them more often.

Well, I've remedied that this year.  My husband and I enjoyed these banana bars so much, I made another batch the following weekend, which we shared with the neighbors.  Hope you enjoy this recipe as much I as we do.

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Can't Be Beat Banana Bars

Bars:

• 1-1/2 C. sugar
• 1/2 C. margarine (I used butter instead)
• 2 eggs
• 1 C. sour cream
• 3 ripe bananas, mahsed
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt 
• 2 C. flour

Frosting:

• 3 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 6 T. butter
• 1 T. cream
• 2 C. powdered sugar

Bars: Cream sugar and margarine.  Beat in eggs and sour cream.  Mix in bananas and vanilla.  Sift baking soda, salt and flour.  Add to banana mixture.  Bake in greased 10 x 13 inch pan at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.  Frosting: Mix all frosting ingredients together well. Spread on cooled bars.

Iowa church cookbook recipe: Morning Glory Muffins

I planted carrots in the same garden plot as tomatoes.  By mid-July, the tomatoes were getting so big that they were overshadowing the carrots.  So even though the carrots were on the small side, I decided it was time to yank them out of the ground.  We have really rich, black, heavy soil here in central Iowa, so I always have a difficult time trying to get the little carrots out of the ground without them breaking off.  Does anyone have a trick for digging up carrots?

Even though the carrots were small, I ended up with quite a few of them.  

Fresh from the garden.

All cleaned up!

Since they were so tiny, I thought it would be best to shred them in the food processor and bake with them.  I wasn't in the mood for carrot cake, so I turned to my favorite church cookbook and found a recipe for Morning Glory Muffins.  I had all the ingredients on hand, which is great because I didn't want to make another trip to the grocery store.

These muffins turned out a little "tough," but I think that's because I didn't add the shredded apple.  (I was out of apples.)  You're welcome to give them a try if you have a few extra carrots in your refrigerator that need to be used up.

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Morning Glory Muffins

• 1/2 C. raisins, soaked 1/2 hour in hot water (drain)
• 2 C. flour
• 1 C. sugar
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp nutmet
• 2 C. shredded carrots
• 1 large tart apple, shredded
• 1/2 C. sliced almonds (opt.)
• 1/2 C. coconut (opt.)
• 3 eggs
• 2/3 C. cooking oil
• 2 tsp. vanilla

Combine flour, sugar, baking soda and spices. Stir in drained raisins, carrots, apples, almonds and coconut.  Beat eggs.  Add oil and vanilla.  Add to flour mixture and stir just to combine.  Grease muffin cups or line with paper liners.  Fill cups 2/3 full.  You can sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top, if desired.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to35 minutes.  Yield: 24 muffins.

My new favorite apple crisp

What's your favorite taste of the fall?  Apples? Squash? Sweet potatoes?  Personally, I love them all, but apples are by far my favorite for fall cooking and baking.  I've been taking advantage of the seasonal apple sales at the grocery store and local orchard and bringing at least one bag of apples home each week.  I mostly buy Jonathans, because they are a good all-purpose baking and sauce apple. 

But a few weeks back, I stopped at Bauer's Market in La Crescent, Minn., on my way home from visiting family, and there were several apple varieties that I had never seen in the Iowa orchards I visit.  I decided to try something new, and I brought home a bag of Fireside apples, which were reasonably priced and labeled as good baking apples. 

I was craving apple crisp the other night, so I broke out one of my favorite Iowa church cookbooks and tried a new-to-me recipe.  And talk about beginner's luck -- this apple crisp was wonderful!  It's super easy to make on a weeknight, and the Fireside apples gave the dessert a nice tart bite.

I was pretty generous with the cinnamon called for in the recipe, because my husband believes you can never add too much cinnamon.  (And he's usually right about these things.)

This recipe may not be original or fancy, but it's good.  Really good.  So I'm sharing it with all of you.  Enjoy!

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Apple Crisp
From Deer Creek Lutheran Church Cookbook, Carpenter, Iowa

• Apples, sliced (about 5 large)
• 1/2 C. sugar & cinnamon, to taste
• 1 C. brown sugar
• 1/2 C. quick oatmeal
• 1/2 C. flour
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 C. walnuts, chopped
• 1/3 C. butter

Sliced apples go in bottom of an 8x8-inch pan to the depth of about 2 inches. Mix sugar with cinnamon and sprinkle over top of apples. Mix the brown sugar, oatmeal, flour, vanilla and nuts together. Cut in butter until crumbly. Put over top of apples and bake at 350 to 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Serve warm, with either ice cream or Cool Whip.

Cookie Friday: Butter-Pecan Turtle Bars

Happy Cookie Friday, everyone!  I don't know about you, but I'm so ready for the weekend.  I've been working all week on deadline, so I'm looking forward to kicking back and relaxing, maybe seeing if there's anything fun to do in Des Moines this weekend.

I'm so excited to share this recipe with you.  I recently sorted through my huge stack of cookbooks and rediscovered the Ocheyedan United Methodist Church Cookbook, a wedding gift from a family member.

I found this gem of a recipe, Butter-Pecan Turtle Bars.  At first, I was skeptical that the bars would turn out, because one of the steps in the recipe is boiling brown sugar and butter, and I have terrible luck with making caramel.  And the cookie crust seemed a little dry when I was mixing it up.

But I'm telling you, you have to try these bars.  They are so rich and so good.  When my husband smelled the bars baking in the oven, he thought I was making toffee.  And it does taste like toffee, even though I was expecting gooey caramel like my favorite turtle candies.

The best part was they were so quick to make.  I baked them up on a weeknight. They would be perfect for unexpected treat days at work.  I already had all of the ingredients in my cupboard.  I love it when I don't have to make an extra trip to the grocery store.

Enjoy!

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Butter-Pecan Turtle Bars
From Ocheyedan Methodist Church Cookbook

• 2 C. flour
• 1/2 C. butter or margarine
• 1 C. brown sugar
• 1 C. pecan halves
• 1/2 C. brown sugar
• 2/3 C. butter or margarine
• 1 C. milk chocolate chips

In mixer, combine flour, butter and brown sugar. Pat into 9x13-inch pan. Sprinkle pecans over unbaked crust.

Cook brown sugar and butter over medium heat.  Boil 30 to 60 seconds, stirring constantly.  Pour mixture over pecans and bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 22 mintues, or until caramel layer is bubbly.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips.  Wait 2 to 3 minutes and swirl chips.  Cool and cut into bars.

Church Cookbook Sunday: Rhubarb Swirl Dessert

I am a proud owner of a ton of church cookbooks.  OK, maybe not a ton, but I have stacks and stacks of cookbooks in my spare bedroom. 

A couple of the books are "leftovers" that my mom didn't want anymore.  A few years back, my mother-in-law surprised me by sending me a full box of old 1970s church cookbooks she had "grown" out of.  And I also inherited a few wonderful church cookbooks from my grandmother, who was an amazing cook.

I'm a weekend cook (my husband gets home earlier than I do and does all the cooking during the week), so I have to admit, I haven't tried many of the church cookbook recipes.  So as motivation, I'm starting a regular feature on my blog, "Church Cookbook Sunday."  I'll be picking a recipe from one of my many church cookbooks, and then sharing the recipe with all you wonderful blog readers.

Just a funny side note, I told my husband I was making a recipe from a church cookbook, and he said, "Good. Those are the good recipes."  I think that was a subtle jab at all the kooky recipes I like to try from magazines and the Internet.  What can I say?  I like to try new foods.

Anyhow, this week's church cookbook pick is Rhubarb Swirl dessert.  I still have lots of rhubarb growing in my backyard, and my air conditioner is broken, which means no turning on the oven and heating up the house.  This recipe is perfect, because it's completely no bake.

Rhubarb Swirl
From the Deer Creek Lutheran Church Cookbook (from Carpenter, Iowa -- my grandmother's home town)

• 1 (3 oz.) box strawberry Jello
• 3 C. diced rhubarb
• 3/4 C. sugar
• 1 (3.4 oz.) box instant vanilla pudding
• 1-1/2 C. milk
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla
• 8 oz. Cool Whip topping 

Graham cracker crust:

• 2 C. graham crackers, crushed
• 1/3 C. powdered sugar
• 1/2 C. melted margarine (I use butter)
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 

Pour sugar over rhubarb and set 1 hour. Put in saucepan and simmer until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Pour in Jello and mix until dissolved. Set aside and cool until syrupy.  Prepare pudding with milk and vanilla. Then add topping and mix well. Pour rhubarb mix into pudding and gently swirl. Put into prepared graham cracker crust and chill overnight.

Crust:  Mix together ingredients. Press all but 1/4 C. (for topping) in a 9x13-inch pan. Chill 1 hour before pouring rhubarb filling on.  Sprinkle reserved crumbs on top.

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Now, admittedly, this dessert doesn't look very pretty.  Part of the reason is that I couldn't wait to dig in before it had fully chilled.  But it still tasted good.  Really good.  My husband couldn't believe the it was a rhubarb dessert, because the rhubarb was so tender and the strawberry Jello was the predominant flavor.  Still, it's a good way to use up some garden rhubarb on a hot spring day.