THE BEST BANANA BREAD
Any banana bread fans out there? Until about 10 years ago, I was not. Usually, banana bread is full of nuts (not hating on nuts, just don’t like them in my bread) or it didn’t taste very much like bananas. So I skipped it.
When our kids were young, I found myself buying bananas every week but, inevitably, one would end up overripe by the end of the week and nobody would touch it. It would end up in the garbage or I’d pitch it in the compost bin. I know bananas are not expensive, but one a week for a year is a lot of bananas. I started chucking them in the freezer to see if maybe I could figure out something to do with them and I came back to banana bread.
I started looking for recipes that sounded extra banana-ee. I found one that I thought would be good, so I thawed the bananas to use in the recipe, and, to my surprise, the bananas were broken down and watery. Not good. So I had an idea. What if I took the super watery bananas and cooked them down to evaporate out some of the liquid? I could add more bananas to the recipe for more banana-ee flavor and get some room back in my freezer. Win-Win!
JACKPOT!
After some testing and learning our way into this method, what we finally got was the best banana bread I’ve ever put in my face! A favorite with my oldest, in particular, you can eat this straight up, with butter, or let it dry out a bit and make french toast with it - it is fragile to work with but worth it.
RECIPE
INGREDIENTS:
6 Frozen Bananas
1 teaspoon Cinamon
8 Tablespoons Butter, Softened
1 Cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 Cups AP Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
Preheat Oven: 325 Degrees
PROCESS
STEP 1:
Take bananas out of your freezer and let them thaw. It will take a couple of hours, but just put them on a plate on your counter and let them sit.
TIP: To get the pulp out of the peel, snip off a small section at the bottom or top of the banana with kitchen shears and squeeze the insides out into a pan.
STEP 2:
In a wide bottom pan, cook bananas and cinnamon over medium heat until excess liquid has cooked off. This will take 10-15 minutes, but your house will smell AMAZING!
What you will be left with is a banana mash that is the consistency of lumpy lemon curd.
Allow the banana mash to cool completely before going to the next step. This can be done in advance and stored in the refrigerator for a few days if you are running short on time.
STEP 3:
In your mixer, use the flat beater cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. You may need to scrape the bowl to make sure the butter and sugar are fully combined.
Mix one egg into butter and sugar. When it is completely mixed in, add egg #2 and vanilla. Mix until combined.
STEP 4:
Add banana mash to butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla.
Mix until combined.
Again, you may need to scrape the bowl.
STEP 5:
Add AP flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix until combined.
You may need to scrape the bowl one more time to make sure you got everything from the bottom.
STEP 6:
Grease a 9’’ x 5’’ loaf pan (or use Pam Cooking Spray) and pour batter into it. Top with brown sugar. We are using dark brown sugar here - the flavor is a little richer with dark brown sugar. You can use light brown sugar or no sugar at all. It is up to you!
Bake at 325 degrees for 75 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
This recipe is pretty versatile. You can:
Add walnuts - if you’re into that kind of thing
Replace 1 Cup of sugar with 1/2 Cup sugar and 1/2 Cup brown.
Add 1/2 Cup crushed pineapple (thoroughly drained) and 1/4 Cup coconut flakes for a tropical flare.
Make it your own and enjoy!
It is worth mentioning that I would not put this under the category of “Healthy”. But boy howdy is it good!
Enjoy!
#grayhairblogging #grayhaircooking
Nutritional Information*
Calories: 317 Fat: 9g Protein: 3g Calcium: 0g Fiber: 3g Carbohydrates: 55g
Servings: 10 Serving Size: 1 Piece
Storage: Store in an airtight container for up to a week. It won’t last that long tho.
*Nutritional Information is pulled from MyFitnessPal