So I feel like everyone has a recipe for Banana Bread. I even have a few that I've used, never really LOVING them, but enjoying them nonetheless.
This one is delicious. Like, so yummy and delicious and GOOOOOD. So good in fact that of the two loaves I made for the family one mysteriously disappeared when the hubs left for work the other day. The whole damn loaf was gone. I thought I was losing my mind and had misplaced it... nope. It was gone.
The thing to note however is that the recipe itself isn't the healthiest... but seriously, when has THAT really been a concern you ask? Well, when I feed my kid stuff I at least TRY to make it healthier, especially with morning food. So I made a few tweaks to the recipe that seem to work great. I'll put the original recipe and then add my changes along the side. It still tasted A-MAZING and I felt a little bit better because it wasn't terrible. Well, not too terrible anyway :-) I mean, all baked goods should have at least a 1/2 cup of butter in them right?
Anyway - enjoy as a delicious breakfast food. Or a special occasion food, warm with ice cream and caramel on top. Whatever... it's good stuff.
And this was courtesy of TastyKitchen. (LOVE LOVE LOVE that site)
Ingredients
3-4 whole ripe Bananas - I use 4 and then cut the sugar slightly... and make sure they are REALLY REALLY ripe. Like so far gone they are kind of gross ripe. They really are the sweetest.
1 1/2 cup of Sugar - This seemed like a lot. So I cut it to 1 Cup.
1/2 cup of Butter
3 large Eggs - So this was the strangest substitution I made. I didn't have 3 eggs, so I substituted one with 1Tb of flaxseed in 3TB of water. Sounds kind of weird, but it makes a great substitution and is a pretty healthy addition. If you don't have it? Don't worry about it.
1 1/2 cups of Flour - I changed this to 1 cup of white flour and 1/2 cup of whole wheat pastry flour. Whole wheat flour is a really easy thing to keep on hand and it's great to add small quantities of it to baked goods to make them healthier. Buy it in the bulk section at the grocery store, that way you don't have to buy a whole bag of it.
1 HEAPING tsp of Baking Soda - Super important otherwise it doesn't rise very high.
1/2 tsp of Salt
1/2 tsp of Nutmeg
1/2 HEAPING tsp of cinnamon
4 TB of Sour Cream - I didn't have it on hand so I used fat free greek yogurt. More protein and same taste.
1 1/2 tsp of Vanilla
Streusel Topping - so yeah, makes it AMAZING, but then tops your delicious bread with sugar. So, if you want dessert type bread? Go for it. Healthy bread? Skip it. Whatever floats your boat.
2 1/2 TB packed Brown Sugar
2 TB White Sugar - I took it out... didn't seem necessary
1 1/2 tsp of ground Cinnamon
Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray two loaf pans with baking spray (oil and flour). If you don't have that, spray it and then flour it.
In a large bowl, add the bananas, white sugar and melted butter. Use a fork to mash them all together. Don't worry about the lumps... it makes it YUMMY. Add the eggs and flaxseed (if you are using it) and mix to combine. Add all of the dry ingredients and mix with a large spoon or spatula. No need to use a mixer, it comes together really easily. Now add the sour cream (or yogurt) and vanilla.
Divide the mixture between your two loaf pans. It only comes halfway up, but don't worry, it will rise.
Sprinkle the streusel mixture on top of each uncooked pan, if you are using it. Bake for about an hour, or once a toothpick/knife/finger comes out clean.
The bread is SUPER moist and so delicious from the addition of the spices. It's also a great way to use up those nasty brown bananas that you were going to pitch. Not that we ever have any of those in my house since my child is part monkey.
Enjoy!!!
