I am having the banana breakfast squares with my morning coffee as I’m writing today’s post. Morning is a good time to write and to refuel. Admittedly, this is the first time I’m eating, at the same time, what I’m writing about. What works for the breakfast squares? It’s the fiber-rich nutrients-packed ingredients: the oats, the walnuts, dates and flaxseeds. Together with some plain yogurt, I’m enjoying this cake with it’s speckled crumb, lots of crunch and an earthy edge.
I bake the cake in a 9 x 13-inch baking pan as Dorie suggests. You can also put the batter in muffin cups or tins while bypassing the need to cut the cake in little squares. That’s a matter of personal preferences.
There’s quite a long list of ingredients for the batter. Here is the step-by-step guide to make the cake:
Assemble the dry ingredients in a bowl: Whisk together all-purpose flour, wheat flour, instant espresso, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Cream butter and sugar in the stand mixer: There are two types of sugar: granulated and brown sugar. The fat portion includes both butter and canola oil. The creaming method is typically used in cake batter by paddling sugar into butter until the sugar is uniformly distributed and the butter has slightly increased in volume. That takes about 5 minutes. The butter changes and lightens over time as bubbles of air are incorporated in the mixture.
Add eggs, flour mixture, then banana and the liquid ingredient: Next add the eggs, half of the flour mix and banana in chunks, incrementally. At this point, pour in the buttermilk or sour cream. Finally fold in the remaining flour mixture until it’s almost incorporated.
Add the breakfast specials to the final batter: There are two cups of these. In low speed, add the oats, nuts and dates and flax. Then scrape the batter into the pan.
Bake: Bake at 350°F for 45 to 50 minutes until the cake is deeply golden brown.
From upper left: flour mixture, butter/sugar in stand mixer, bananas, breakfast ingredients, oil, eggs, buttermilk
Banana Breakfast Squares
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups (306 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup (90 grams) whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons instant espresso or ground coffee (optional but good)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup (200 grams) sugar
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) packed brown sugar
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons; 4 ounces; 113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) flavorless oil, such as grapeseed, avocado, or coconut oil (nice with banana) – see above
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 large or 4 medium mushy, overripe bananas, cut into chunks (see above)
- 2/3 cup (160 ml) buttermilk (well shaken before measuring) or sour cream
- 3/4 cup (60 grams) oats (not instant)
- 1/2 cup (60 grams) finely chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
- 1/3 cup (50 grams) moist, plump raisins or an equal amount of chopped or diced soft dates or figs (see above)
- 1/4 cup (40 grams) flaxseeds (see above)
Instructions
Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-x-13-inch baking pan, preferably one with 2-inch-high sides, and dust it with flour, or use baker’s spray. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
Whisk both flours, the coffee, if you’re using it, baking soda, baking powder and salt together.
Working in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat both sugars and the butter together at medium speed for about 2 minutes; you’ll have a pasty mixture. Pour in the oil and beat for another 2 minutes, or until smooth, scraping the bowl as needed.
One by one, add the eggs, beating for a minute after each goes in. Beat in the vanilla. With the mixer on medium, drop in the pieces of banana, beating until they are blended into the batter. You’ll have a very light, almost fluffy mixture; if you still have chunklets of banana here and there, that’s fine.
Turn off the mixer, add half of the flour mixture and pulse to begin the blending. Then mix on low speed only until most of the flour disappears. Pour in the buttermilk or sour cream and mix until it’s almost all in, then turn off the mixer, add the remaining flour mixture and pulse and mix only until the flour is almost incorporated.
One by one — still on low speed — add the oats, nuts, if using, raisins or other fruit and flax. Remove the bowl from the mixer stand, if using, and finish the blending by hand with a flexible spatula. Scrape the batter into the pan, smoothing the top.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the cake is deeply golden brown (if you think it is getting too dark, tent it loosely with foil or parchment) and starting to pull away from the sides of the pan; a tester inserted into the center should come out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and let sit for 5 minutes, then run a table knife around the edges of the pan, if needed, to loosen the cake. Turn it out onto the rack, peel away the paper and turn it right side up. Let cool until just warm or at room temperature.
Cut the cake into 16 squares and serve as is or with some or all of the suggested go-alongs.
STORING: Wrapped well, the cake will keep for about 4 days at room temperature or for up to 2 months in the freezer; defrost it in its wrapper.
Notes
https://doriegreenspan.substack.com/p/banana-squares-for-breakfast-and-22-09-13
7 Comments
Diane Zwang
September 12, 2023 at 9:21 pmI love your plate! We had these for breakfast with coffee and it was so good. We really enjoyed them and I am glad I have leftovers for later.
steph (whisk/spoon)
September 12, 2023 at 9:56 pmoh, how lovely to enjoy these while writing your post! “earthy edge” is a good way to describe these– I like them, too.
Mardi (eat. live. travel. write.)
September 13, 2023 at 9:52 amReally enjoyed these as well 🙂 Yours look scrumptious!
Kayte
September 16, 2023 at 1:20 pmThey were good, weren’t they? Nice and easy for breakfast and Mark ate a few for snacking as well. Your post is so informative and your photo lovely.
Banana Breakfast Squares | Baking with Dorie – Ever Open Sauce | My Meals are on Wheels
September 17, 2023 at 8:24 am[…] September 17, 2023 at 8:23 AM | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment Banana Breakfast Squares | Baking with Dorie […]
Kim
September 18, 2023 at 2:53 pmI try to write my blogs shortly after eating or sharing so I get the freshest reactions haha otherwise I might forget or move on to other bakes. Glad you enjoyed these…my group loved them as well. I think the perfect way to use up ripe bananas when I have them!
Cakelaw
September 24, 2023 at 6:09 amThese were delicious. Your plate is also lovely. It’s a long ingredient list but I had everything already