Banana Bread – Happy Saturday Morning!

I woke up this morning and saw 4 sad, brown bananas on my counter top. I definitely wasn’t going to eat them as is (I prefer almost green bananas if I’m eating them straight up) and I already had a stash of overripe bananas in my freezer for smoothie making, but I hate throwing food away. There was only one solution… make banana bread.

Banana bread is a quick bread, more like a muffin than a cake, and definitely not like an actual yeast loaf. I usually like nuts in my banana bread, but since today was unplanned, I did without. The recipe is very easy and makes super delicious bread that is moist but not gummy, and not super sweet either. It makes a pretty tasty breakfast, but honestly, I’ll eat it any time of the day.

Ingredients
4 overripe bananas
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
dash of salt (I just sprinkle a touch, maybe 1/4 tsp?)
1 egg
cinnamon and nutmeg, to taste (I prefer just 1/4 tsp of each)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup AP flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Butter (or grease) a loaf pan.

Start by mashing your bananas. I use a potato masher, but a fork works just fine. Then add your brown sugar, honey, salt, egg, spices (I use just a little cinnamon and nutmeg, just to add warmth, I don’t really want to be able to pick up their flavor in the finished bread) and vanilla extract. Whisk these together really well and continue whisking while you add the melted butter.

In a separate bowl, mix your flours and baking soda and whisk together to combine.

You are now done with the whisks, time to move to a wooden spoon or, my preference, a silicon spatula. Dump the dry ingredients onto the wet, and quickly mix the two together. If you are using chopped nuts, you’d add them now as well. You just want all the flour incorporated, you don’t want to overmix until perfectly smooth or you’ll develop gluten – not good in a quick bread, it makes the texture rubbery.

Dump the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes to an hour, until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.

Let cool for a few minutes then set on a rack to continue cooling. I like eating it still a bit warm. Once it is completely cool, wrap it in plastic wrap and store at room temperature (fridge if you like) for a few days. It also freezes well, just wrap it tightly.