Gone to the Dogs

I do think my cooking skills have improved within the past few years. I enjoy trying new meals, even if I do refuse to venture at all from the recipe. They seem to turn out well for the most part... at least edible if not yummy.

I also am a sucker for traditions so it was time again to make my favorite Christmas treat..... my mother's banana bread. So my first batch (3 small loaves) cooked for an hour like it should and then was removed from the oven. The toothpick came out soggy so they went back in for another 15 minutes. Same thing. Back in for another 10 minutes. Same thing. I finally gave up and knew something was wrong although I had gone over the recipe 8 times in my head and had followed every step to a Tee! The bread was like rubber and only the outside was cooked, and I could not figure it out for the life of me!

Anyone want to take a guess as to what was wrong? This website explains it all. Apparently I had grabbed the baking powder out of the pantry instead of the baking soda. I can just hear all of those cooks out there groaning while reading this in disappointment of my stupidity. How was I to know? They both are white, powdery and for baking. The worst part, however, is that I thought I could use them as treats for the dogs. Nope. They pretty much looked like they were choking on the most disgusting thing ever tasted when I tossed them a nibble. Pretty sad when your own dogs won't even eat your cooking.

Oh well, got more bananas and will be on loaf #7 tomorrow!