Holiday Recipes

Every Christmas I make my Banana Nut Bread an old family favorite and new this year is our families favorite Orange Zeppole's.
Enjoy from the Benson's.

Banana Nut Bread:
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
4 large ripe bananas
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup chopped nuts, if desired

Place oven rack in lowest position. Heat oven to 350. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans, 8 1/2 X 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches, or 1 loaf pan, 9 X 5 X 3 inches. mis sugar and margarine in large bowl. Stir in eggs until well blended. Add bananas, buttermilk and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Stir in remaining ingredients except nuts just until moistened. Stir in nuts. Pour into pans. Bake 8 inch loaves about 1 hour, 9 inch loaf about 1 hour 15 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans. Cool completely before slicing. Wrap lightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.

Orange Zeppole:
1 stick butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs
1 TBLS orange zest
Vegetable oil, for frying

Orange Sugar:
1 TBLS orange zest
1/2 cup sugar

Chocolate Sauce:
3/4 cup cream
1 cup (8oz.) bittersweet chocolate chips

For the Orange Zeppole:
In Medium saucepan combine the butter, salt, sugar, and water over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the flour. Return the pan to low heat and sir continuously until the mixture forms a ball, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl. Using an electric mixture on low speed, add eggs, 1 at a time, incorporating each egg completely before adding the next. Add the orange zest and beat until smooth. Set aside.

For the Orange Sugar:
Place the orange zest and sugar in a food processor. Plus the machine until the mixture is blended. Set the sugar into a wide and shallow dish. Set aside.
Pour enough oil into a large frying pan to reach a depth of 2 inches. heat the oil over medium heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 350 degrees. Using a small ice-cram scoop or 2 small spoons, carefully drop about a tablespoon of the dough into the hot oil. Turn the zeppole once or twice, cooking until golden and puffed up, about 5 minutes. Transfer the cooked zeppole to the dish with the Orange Sugar. Roll to coat in the sugar. Continue frying the remaing dough.

For the Chocolate Sauce:
Heat the cream in a small saucepan until hot but not boiling. Pour cream over the chocolate and stir until the mixture is smooth. Transfer the Chocolate Sauce into a dipping dish. Serve the Zeppole alongside the Chocolate Sauce for dipping.