Plated + Served: Go Bananas!
For some reason, I’ve never mastered the art of picking out perfect bananas (according to my family). When I select them in the market they are perfectly yellow and gorgeous… something Chiquita would be proud to wear on her head.
But by the time I get home, the once lovely bunch have crossed the Rubicon and are teetering on the edge of over-ripeness… ready to be kicked off the island by my in-house banana connoisseurs.
I’ll eat as many of the freckled fruit as I can (since my picky banana eaters won’t) but inevitably there are leftovers. Since nothing is wasted in my kitchen, I’ll use them in waffles, pancakes and bread. Here’s a really great recipe that absolves me of any inadequacies I may have in the banana-picking-out department. I usually bake this bread in small loaf pans so that I can share.
Cinnamon Banana Bread you’ll need… let’s get to it… tip…
prep: 15 minutes
cook: 35 to 40 minutes
makes: 4 mini loaves
2 ½ cups whole wheat flour or bread flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
8 oz. unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 ½ lbs. bananas, peeled and mashed
3 eggs
½ cup milk
Preheat oven to 350°F. Make sure rack is in the middle of the oven. Grease and lightly flour 4 mini (6 in. 3.2 in. x3.4 in.) loaf pans (disposable aluminum loaf pans work great).
Mix flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together in bowl; set aside.
Beat butter and sugars together in large bowl until blended; add the bananas, eggs and milk and beat until mixed. The mixture may look a little curdled… don’t panic.
Fold the flour mixture into the banana mixture and stir gently to blend. Pour the mixture evenly into each loaf pan.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool in the pans 5 minutes and then turn out of the pans onto a rack to cool completely.
• Instead of the mini-loaf pans, the bread can be baked in 2 medium (8½-in.) loaf pans.
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