Skip to main content
★ Hand-built · Inspected before it ships
Northstar Fruit & Gift Baskets
Cart (0)
Laura smiling at a sunny kitchen counter with a bowl of strawberries, blueberries and a basket of oranges, lemons and apples, under the words Laura's Corner and the Northstar logo.

Autumn 2026

Laura’s Corner: FromLaura’s Kitchen

Recipes and ideas for making the most of every piece of fruit.

Laura has always had a love for cooking, and she’s the one everyone hopes is bringing dessert. Here she shares what she makes with the fruit in our baskets: desserts, meals and drinks, and what to do with fruit that’s a little past its prime.

I · In the kitchen

Brown bananas? Don’t you dare toss them.

When a banana’s peel turns freckled and brown, most people think it’s done. It’s actually just getting good. As a banana ripens, its starch turns to sugar. The fruit gets sweeter, softer and more fragrant, which is exactly what you want for baking. The spottier the peel, the better the banana bread.

So before a single one goes in the trash, here are a few favorite ways to use them:

  • BakeBanana bread, muffins and snack cake. Very ripe bananas add sweetness and keep everything moist.
  • Freeze for smoothiesFrozen banana makes a smoothie thick and creamy without ice watering it down.
  • BreakfastMash one into pancake or waffle batter, or stir it into warm oatmeal with cinnamon.
  • A one-ingredient treatBlend frozen banana until smooth for a soft-serve-style dessert. Add cocoa or peanut butter if you like.

How to freeze bananas

  1. Peel them first. A frozen peel is nearly impossible to get off.
  2. Slice into coins, or leave in halves for baking.
  3. Freeze on a parchment-lined tray for about 2 hours so the pieces don’t stick together.
  4. Move to a labeled freezer bag. They keep for about 3 months.

For banana bread, thaw whole frozen bananas in a bowl and use them with their liquid. It’s all flavor.

Laura holding a freshly baked loaf of banana bread topped with toasted nuts.

II · Laura's recipe

Brown Butter Banana Bread

Browning the butter gives this loaf a toasty, caramel depth, and sour cream keeps it tender for days. It's even better the next morning.

  • Makes one 9×5" loaf
  • Prep 20 min
  • Bake 55–65 min
  • Oven 350°F
Laura smiling in her kitchen, holding a freshly baked loaf of banana bread on a wooden board, with ripe bananas on the counter.
Laura with a fresh loaf of Brown Butter Banana Bread.

Ingredients

  • ½ cupunsalted butter (1 stick)
  • 3 largevery ripe bananas, well spotted (about 1½ cups mashed)
  • ¾ cuppacked light brown sugar
  • 2 largeeggs, at room temperature
  • ⅓ cupsour cream or plain Greek yogurt
  • 1 tsppure vanilla extract
  • 1¾ cupsall-purpose flour
  • 1 tspbaking soda
  • ½ tspfine salt
  • ½ tspground cinnamon

To finish (optional)

  • ¾ cuptoasted walnuts or pecans, chopped
  • 1banana, halved lengthwise, for the top
  • 1 tbspturbinado (raw) sugar

Method

  1. Prep. Heat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9×5" loaf pan and line it with a strip of parchment, leaving the ends hanging over as handles.
  2. Brown the butter. Melt it in a light-colored saucepan over medium heat, swirling, for 4–6 minutes, until it smells nutty and the bits in the bottom turn golden brown. Pour it into a large bowl, scraping in the browned bits, and let it cool for 10 minutes.
  3. Mix the wet ingredients. Mash the bananas well and whisk them into the butter with the brown sugar, eggs, sour cream and vanilla.
  4. Add the dry ingredients. In another bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Fold them into the banana mixture with a spatula until just combined. A few streaks of flour are fine. Fold in the nuts, if using.
  5. Top and bake. Scrape the batter into the pan. Lay the banana halves on top, cut side up, and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake 55–65 minutes, until a skewer in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. If the top browns too fast, cover it loosely with foil after 40 minutes.
  6. Cool. Let it rest in the pan for 15 minutes, then lift it out and cool on a rack before slicing.

Laura's tip

Mostly-black bananas make the best bread. Wrapped well, the loaf keeps 3 days on the counter or 3 months in the freezer. Toast a slice and add a little salted butter.

Allergy note: leave out the walnuts or pecans for a nut-free loaf.

A pale gold pear martini in a stemmed glass, garnished with a slice of pear and elderflower.

III · Laura's cocktail

Anjou Pear Martini

Silky, fresh and just sweet enough. A ripe pear blended smooth gives this martini real fruit flavor, and a touch of elderflower makes it taste like the holidays.

  • Makes 1 cocktail
  • Time 10 min
  • Glass chilled coupe or martini
Laura pouring pale gold pear martinis from a gold shaker into two glasses garnished with pear slices and elderflower, with fresh pears on the counter.
Laura pouring an Anjou Pear Martini.

Ingredients

  • 2 ozvodka (a pear vodka works beautifully)
  • 1 ozfresh pear purée, from ½ ripe Anjou or Bartlett pear
  • ½ ozelderflower liqueur, such as St-Germain
  • ½ ozfresh lemon juice
  • ¼ ozsimple syrup or honey syrup, to taste
  • Icefor shaking

To garnish

  • 1paper-thin pear slice, brushed with lemon
  • Optionalcinnamon-sugar rim for the holidays

Method

  1. Chill the glass. Fill it with ice water while you mix, or keep it in the freezer for 10 minutes.
  2. Make the purée. Peel and core half a ripe pear and blend it until completely smooth. Half a pear makes enough for two drinks.
  3. Shake. Add the vodka, pear purée, elderflower liqueur, lemon juice and syrup to a shaker with plenty of ice. Shake hard for 15 seconds, until the shaker is frosty.
  4. Strain and serve. Empty the glass. Pour the drink through the shaker's strainer and a small fine-mesh sieve for a silky finish. Float the pear slice on top.

Laura's tip

Use a pear that gives a little near the stem. That's when it's sweetest and blends smoothest. For a party, blend a whole pear and mix a batch in a pitcher, then shake each drink to order.

Make it a mocktail

Skip the vodka and elderflower. Shake the pear purée, lemon and syrup with ice, strain, and top with chilled ginger beer or sparkling water.

For guests 21 and over. Please enjoy responsibly.

From our baskets

Where the fruit comes from

Bananas and pears are in several of our baskets. When there’s more than anyone can eat fresh, now you know what to do.

Laura’s Corner, in your inbox

New recipes with the season

Laura’s latest recipe comes with our email: what’s in season, the stories behind the baskets, and specials for people on the list first.

Join the list