Banana Bread

Three rapidly ripening bananas.  One rapidly frantic wannabe cook, who hasn't posted a recipe in a while because she hasn't had time to find something new to cook.

Thankfully the bananas forced themselves into the spotlight and I had to make something quick.  Enter banana bread!

Generally, my go to recipe for banana bread is from America's Test Kitchen's Family Baking Book.  Unfortunately, I did not have plain yogurt on hand, so I had to frantically google for a new recipe and came across this one from Simply Recipes via Smitten Kitchen.

While I love the ATK Banana Bread, this one was also delish because it isn't as sweet.  Cutting back on the sweetness made the banana bread so yummerific, especially since the bananas were already so dark they had to be overflowing with sugars.  It'll be hard to choose a winner, but if you have plain yogurt on hand, make the ATK version; if not, go with this one.  It's a winner either way.

I might suggest, however, baking for 50 minutes instead of 1 hour - I checked my bread at 55 minutes and it seemed a bit overdone around the edges.

Mmmmmmmm.  See those brown edges?  That's where it is overdone - definitely reduce the baking time.

Banana Bread from Elise at Simply Recipes

Ingredients:

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter (this is about 5 1/3 tablespoons, I just used six tablespoons.)
• 1 cup sugar (I used about 80% of one cup of sugar)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

I just had to show off these two ingredients - three rapidly browning bananas, and one brand spanking new bottle of vanilla extract.  It smelled heavenly.  I'd highly recommend Trader Joe's vanilla extract (also available in alcohol free) - it's sooo much cheaper than McCormick's.

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

2.  In a large bowl, smash your bananas - not necessarily into a fine paste, but into much smaller pieces.  I enjoy having the small chunks in my batter to keep the bread moist.

3.  Add melted butter into bananas.  Mix in sugar, egg, and vanilla.  Sprinkle the baking soda and salt.  Slowly combine.

4.  Add in the flour, stir slowly to combine.  Try not to overmix.  When the flour is combined, you are done!

5.  Grease a loaf pan.  Pour batter into pan and smooth the top.  Knock it against the counter a few times to make sure there are no air bubbles in the batter.

6.  Bake for 50 minutes - use a toothpick tester to check doneness starting at 40-45 minutes, depending on how hot your oven gets.

7.  Remove from oven, cool on a rack for five minutes.  

As you can see, I use Baker's Secret loaf pans.

8.  Remove from pan, continue cooling until ready to slice and serve.

All sliced up and ready to eat!  

Banana Nut Muffins

Last week I bought four of the biggest bananas known to mankind.  Mr. Unoriginal Chef didn't want to eat them, so they rapidly decayed to my favorite stage - baking ready.

Before I begin, here are two quick banana tips:
1.  If your banana isn't overripe, you can speed up the ripening process by putting the banana in the oven while it pre-heats.  The skin will turn completely black.  Cool, and then mash.
2.  If your banana is ripe but you aren't ready to bake, you can freeze the banana whole, and just defrost when you are ready to bake.

I've made banana bread many times, so this time I decided to go for banana nut muffins.  After a quick consultation with the mighty recipe oracle (aka Google) I found Tyler Florence's banana nut muffins recipe.  Being highly rated, I had a feeling it would come out well.

Gather your ingredients!

(not pictured - eggs)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 overripe bananas
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped

You will also need three mixing bowls and at least two muffin tins (six muffins per tin)

1.  Preheat your oven to 375 and line your muffin pans or lightly grease with butter.

2.  Melt the butter in the microwave - in a microwave safe bowl, cut the butter into thin slices and microwave for 1 minute at power level 50.  If it hasn't completely melted, microwave for another 20-30 seconds at power level 50 until is melted.  Set aside to cool.

3.  In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.

4.  In a small bowl, mash two of the bananas with a fork, leaving some texture (meaning don't turn it into baby food mush.)

5.  With a mixer with the whisk attachment or a strong arm and whisk, combine the remaining two bananas and sugar for at least 3 minutes.  It will get runny, don't worry!

6.  Add butter, eggs, and vanilla extract.  Beat well.

7.  Mix in the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Stir until barely combined.

8.  Fold in the nuts and mashed bananas with a spatula.

9.  Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, about halfway filled in each cup.  Tap the tins against the counter to get out the air bubbles.

10.  Bake 18-20 minutes or when a toothpick is inserted, it comes out clean.  I also rotated the muffin tins halfway through the baking process.

11.  Allow to cool in the tins on a rack for 5 minutes, and then on a tray completely.

Helloooo gorgeous!

No, really, hubba hubba.

They tasted delicious when warm - they're not overly sweet, and the second addition of not completely mashed bananas help to keep them moist.

Extremely simple, quick, and great - an excellent recipe to use when you have rapidly ripening bananas or need to bring something to a breakfast meeting.