Banana bread so good you'll slap yo mama

[spiced chocolate chip banana bread]

Happy Thursday, eaters! It's almost the weekend, which means you need to be thinking about what you're going to eat this weekend, right? ...Right?

Good thing we've been bringing you our favorite banana bread recipes all week so you can budget for some delicious banana-y goodness this weekend to impress your friends. What's your fancy: an extra kick in your morning muffin? What about a little sweet and buttery extra sumpin sumpin on top? Or is it all the chocolate chips? We three eaters just couldn't put enough chocolate chips in our banana bread this week.

Well, chocolate or no chocolate, this here recipe for banana bread is the absolute best I've found. I could make this in my sleep. This one's different for a few reasons: I use half whole wheat and half regular flour, but this recipe does NOT come out too dense, dry or cakey because of the whole wheat. I also use olive oil instead of oil and/or butter. It also has some added spices: ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. Don't be afraid. Once you taste it, you'll be kicking yourself for not putting ginger in your banana bread before.

You'll need:

3-4 medium to large bananas

1/3 cup olive oil

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp cinnamon

dash of nutmeg

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

To be alone when you eat this otherwise you might slap somebody

 

Preheat your oven to 325 and grease a large bundt pan (or bread pan).

Peel and mash bananas in a large bowl. Add olive oil, brown sugar, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract and beat until everything is incorporated.

In a separate bowl combine the flours, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and baking soda and mix well. This is important. I know I'm always tempted to skip the "in a separate bowl" step, but don't. You want your baking soda to mix properly with the flour. I've found if you skip this step, there is some kind of dark magic about baking soda in banana bread (in particular)- if you don't mix it well in the flour prior to adding it to the bananas, you get disgusting pockets of bitter baking soda in your banana bread.

Once all your dry ingredients are mixed, slowly add and gently stir to your wet ingredients. I'd like to reiterate here something Laura said on Monday: don't over stir your batter. The worst thing banana bread can be is tough and dry. Now, add your chocolate chips at this point if that's what you fancy.

Pop that sucker in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour and it's done when you can stick a knife in the middle and it comes out clean.

[no mamas were hurt in the baking of this banana bread]

Enjoy, eaters!

Until next time,

Buttermilking the heck outta Banana Bread

I freaking love Banana Bread, so Banana Bread Week is like Christmas in Springtime. 

I've been nervous to try it because I love it so much and I don't want to ruin something so perfect. But I tried it anyway. (Mainly because spending $3 on a slice at Starbucks is bananas.)

I Tastespotted and found a recipe that I really like on a little blog called Just a Taste. It's my favorite because of the streusel topping (hello) and the buttermilk. Nom. 

Banana Bread with Streusel Topping
Makes 1 9-inch loaf. Needs to bake for 50 minutes. 

For the bread:
2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 very ripe, darkly speckled large bananas, mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup buttermilk (See Laura's post about this.)
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
6 Tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup walnuts, pecans, chocolate chips or shredded coconut (optional)

For the streusel topping:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons butter, slightly softened and cut into pieces

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Line a 9-inch loaf pan with parchment then grease the parchment with cooking spray.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

Mix mashed bananas, buttermilk, eggs, melted butter and vanilla in a medium bowl.

Lightly fold banana mixture into dry ingredients with rubber spatula just until combined and batter looks thick and chunky. Stir in any desired add-ins. (I always vote chocolate or butterscotch chips.) 

Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan.

Prepare the streusel topping by combining all ingredients in a bowl and using a fork to cut the butter evenly into the dry ingredients.

Lightly sprinkle the streusel topping over the unbaked loaf. (Go easy - you don't want this to be too thick or it just gets dusty.) 

Bake the bread for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Allow the loaf to cool in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer it to a cooling rack to continue cooling. Slice and serve.

Once it's cooled, make sure you store it sealed up. Great banana bread becomes less so when it's dried out. 

You can also make muffins to easy sharing / less guilty devouring. (And these only have to  bake for about 20 minutes.) 

I'm curious to know, what's your tried and true banana bread recipe? 

Banana Chocolate Chip Espresso Muffins.

You know what this Monday needs? Muffins. Muffins with chocolate. and coffee. and maybe some fruit so we can call it "healthy." Basically, almost-cake that can be eaten for breakfast.

Welcome to Banana Bread Week! Throughout the week, each of the 3 Happy Eaters is going to share their take on this diverse baked-deliciousness that works for breakfast, a snack, or even dessert! 

When I find myself with some almost-rotting bananas, I immediately reach for my Baked NYC cookbook, Baked: New Frontiers in Baking. I've said it before and I'll say it again: this is my all-time favorite baking cookbook. You usually only find about a third of the recipes in a given cookbook to be appealing, but I kid you not: every single recipe in this book is unbelievable. Not only do you want to make them, you can make them and when you do make them, they are show-stopping good. Have I made myself clear how incredible this cookbook is? Go get it right now. The link opens in a new tab so don't worry I'll be right here waiting for ya.

The first recipe section in the book is, of course, breakfast. One of the first recipes that I ever tried from this section was for Banana Chocolate Chip Espresso Muffins. Holy sweet goodness, these are good. I like to make muffins because they're easier for sharing at work (and you can get away with eating five at a time). and this recipe is SO easy to throw together. You can find this recipe on the web in other places, so I'll share it with you here. But really, please, right now, go get this cookbook. Seriously, you won't regret it.

Baked NYC's Banana Chocolate Chip Espresso Muffins
from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

Makes 12-18 muffins

1 1/2 cups mashed, very ripe bananas (like, almost rotten, about 4)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1/4 cup whole milk
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder (or instant coffee granules, but NOT ground coffee)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt (omit if you use salted butter, which you shouldn't!)
1 cup (6oz) semisweet chocolate chips (resist the temptation to add more, too many and your muffins won't hold together)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tin with papers, or use nonstick spray.

In a medium bowl, stir together bananas, sugars, butter, milk, and egg. It's important here that the butter be melted but not still hot so that it congeals in the cold milk, or scrambles the egg. That'd be disgusting.

In another medium bowl, whisk together flour, instant espresso powder, baking soda, and salt.

Gently pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients, and stir until just combined (the more you stir the tougher the muffins will be). Fold in chocolate chips.

Fill muffin tin about 3/4 full each. Bake for 20ish minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffins come out clean (minus melted chocolately goodness). Let muffins cool in the pan on a cooling rack for about 15 mins, then remove and let finish cooling on the rack. 

Or devour them as soon as they're cooled to an endurable temperature. Store them in an airtight baggy (after cooling completely) or container for up to 2 days but I doubt they'll be around that long. They're delicious the next day if you nuke them for 5 seconds. Remelts the chocolate. Mmmmmm.

I like my banana bread muffin-shaped and sprinkled with chocolate and a hint of coffee. Stay tuned for Amanda and Katie's favorite versions!