Banana bread. It's gotta be healthy since there's bananas in it! Well, maybe not the way that I make it, but it is quite tasty. Even if you do not have older bananas laying around, this recipe works with fresher bananas (just don't use green bananas or else this won't taste good).
Banana bread is one of those baked goods that practically everyone enjoys. It's versatile too in that you can add nuts, raisins (though you will NEVER see me put raisins in anything because I hate them), cranberries, chocolate chips, etc... You can even put orange zest in the batter for a little something extra!
This morning, while I was making this bread, my house smelled so good and I could not wait to try a piece. In the process of trying to get the bread out of the pan after about 5 minutes out of the oven, I burnt my hand a little - so don't be so aggressive to get that first bite like I was. :)
I put some chocolate chips on top of the bread after it was done baking. Normally, I would stick them right in the batter, but today, I was trying to keep it a bit lighter. Now I am wishing I loaded it up with chocolate chips. I have a real addiction to chocolate.
Here's what you will need to make this delicious bread:
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 cup of granulated sugar
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp of baking soda
- 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup of 2% milk
- pinch of salt
- any extras you want to add in like chocolate chips, nuts, etc...
Here's what you need to do:
- Set your oven to 325 F. This is going to be a big bread, so you want to bake it slow so the edges do not burn.
- Spray a 9"x5" loaf pan with PAM for Baking or grease & flour.
- Mix together the butter, applesauce, and sugar until well combined, then add in the vanilla and eggs. Add in the dry ingredients next (flour, soda, and salt) alternating with the milk.
- Once everything is combined, gently fold in any extras that you're putting in like chocolate chips (I am thinking mini Reese cups would be a great delicious addition right now).
- Pour the batter into your prepared pan. It will be more than 1/2 way full.
- Bake at 325 F for about 1 hour and 20 minutes. You'll know if it's done by checking with a butter knife and it should come out clean. I never trust toothpicks for this type of thing plus the bread will be tall, so a toothpick will not reach to the middle.
- Wait at least 15 minutes to remove from the pan and put on a cooling rack (so you don't burn yourself like I did).
- When it's fully cooled and if you're not going to devour it right away, then wrap it well in Saran Wrap. If you leave it on the counter, it should be good up to 5 days. It never lasts that long in my house.
Notes: If you don't have applesauce on hand, then you 1/2 cup of melted butter instead. You can put in vegetable oil, but I prefer to use butter whenever possible.
Now that I can feel the tips of my fingers again, I'm going to slice into this thing and enjoy!
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