Saturday 25 February 2012

Banana Bread

Let's talk the comfort food that is banana bread.  Oh, warm banana bread smothered in real, salty butter. Oh, tiny chunk of heaven. 

Great travel food for road trips (guess that's why Irving still bakes it), well appreciated at brunches, a wonderful breakfast and snack food.  The all-round winner. 

My Mum handed a great recipe to me for banana bread many trips around the sun ago and I still use the exact same recipe card today.  There are no whole grains in it.  Most of the time, I make substitutes to make it healthier but sometimes I just want a hug and this'll do it for me.  Yep, I'm an emotional eater.  And an emotional baker.  I don't cry while I bake, but when I'm excited about some big event (and sometimes it's just an event, like a friend coming over that I see every week, that's enough of a reason for me) I whip out the recipes and flours and sugars.  There's just something there for me.

In the following recipe, feel free to sub out half the oil with applesauce or plain yogurt.  Feel free to cut back on a third of the sugar completely.  Always use very ripe bananas, you need the sweetness from them (I throw one random banana gone brown into the freezer until I have enough to bake with, let thaw, peel and proceed with baking.)

Mum's Banana Bread
September '97
1/4 cup oil or butter, melted
2 eggs
1 lb bananas, mashed (3 or 4)
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
chocolate chips (optional)
- mix wet, mix dry, combine only to moisten dry ingredients.
- grease pan, bake at 350F 40-50 minutes

A note on my recipe card (yep, I make notes almost every time in my cookbooks too) says that in August '05 I added 1/4 cup cocoa, 1/4 cup wheat germ and 1/2 cup of raisins to a batch.  That sounds yummy too!

Tell me where you take this recipe!  Who do you share it with?

4 comments:

  1. I love banana bread with chocolate chips, especially slightly warmed in the microwave.

    I make large batches usually in my mini silicone loaf pans. They are great to throw into lunches or have when friends are over.

    A few months ago I scored bananas for $.20 a lb at Costco. I bought over 30 lbs and after I made some bread with it I dehydrated the rest. They are so sweet. I use them in my homemade trail mix. They can be rehydrated but we prefer them as chips.

    I just love when I can get ripe bananas on a reduced price. I usually mash them before I freeze them if I have a few bunches. Otherwise I throw them in the freezer with the skins on.

    Maureen

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  2. well i just made another one of your recipes with abit of a twist. instead of a load, i made muffins...in one batch i added chocolate chips and in the other i added peanut butter chips. only thing i wasn't sure about was if i made muffins, would that change baking time? guess i'm about to find out

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    Replies
    1. I think I'm too late to answer your question and I hope you checked them halfway. Yes, the time is greatly reduced when you bake them as muffins - far closer to 20 minutes than the 40 or so for a loaf. (I was away for the weekend, sorry I missed you.)

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    2. thanx Rana. you're so right. good thing i checked along the way :)i'm happy to share they turned out great and i'll be bringing them to work to share with my shop tomorrow

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