Eww, the bananas have all turned black! I like mine with a few freckles, but streaks? No merci. There’s only one thing to do, bake a loaf of Lauren’s grandmother’s banana bread for dessert.
One of the most important rules of baking is to get a nice slippery pan. Non-stick sounds nice, but butter-flavored Crisco is our stand-by way to grease without worrying about the waxy PTFE coating wearing off. Actually, the man who invented it was a chemist trying to replace Freon. It was a mistake that later became known as Teflon. There are cooking sprays out there, but let’s be realistic. Have you ever heard anyone say, “Mmm, Tastes like Pam!”…I didn’t think so.
Bananas go with your wet ingredients. Ripe ones are SO much sweeter and easier to mash. Is anyone else remembering baby food, besides my mom? It’s pretty much the same thing; pureed bananas that come to a finger-coating mush. Lauren, could that be a substitution if you don’t have bananas around the house? Would it give it an apple zest? That sounds like an experiment for another day. I’m getting distracted-back to the bread.
Believe it or not, there’s a difference in softened and melted butter, but once you’ve softened it and then add it to the batter, it will melt the rest of the way gradually. Melted is a bit more concentrated for a one-shot spike.
Check this out: Mixing your wet BEFORE combining with the dry saves you the hassle of trying to mix it in enough later without activating the gluten too soon. It also helps to FOLD the batter once it’s combined instead of beating it so that your bread comes out smooth and soft.
Sugar may be dry, but as Grandma’s recipe calls, we added it in with the wet. It dissolves evenly as you fold and the sugar cuts through the butter. Nobody wants a butter blob sitting in their stomach. A clump of sugar in one place is one thing, but not having sugar in the other is an imbalance for your sweet tooth. Most recipes use a full cup, but we’re only using a half because bananas are loaded with sugar naturally. Yeah, A 7 inch banana usually has 14 grams for Pete’s sake!
Let’s get the dry bits in order. Flour is a grain, which makes it vegan-friendly. Try leveling the cup inside the bag instead of setting up towels and making a mess all over the counter. I love the way that Rumford baking powder has that little lip at the opening like a soda can so you can level it off adding it in. Baking powder needs to be sprinkled so it doesn’t clump. If you don’t dust it and just plop it in, you’ll have a better chance of getting a sour, bitter and disgusting wad. I’ve had that sort of taste in my mouth from licking Mom’s biscuit spoon as a kid. It’s almost salty and makes you want to drink a liter of water on the spot.
If it’s one thing about walnuts, (chopped or not) they can be bitter on their own in large quantities. We chopped some pecans while we were at it. Do you have a preference when it comes to nuts? Do you like to mix them up? Tell us in the comments, please. If you or someone you’re serving has an allergy, you can choose to use butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, or peanut butter chips instead of nuts. Maybe you’ll want to try white chocolate chips.
Just for fun, we threw in a cup of dark chocolate chips. Milk chocolate is far too sweet for this. Had we used milk instead of dark, the total sugar content would have been through the roof!
350 degrees and minutes later, time for the moment of truth, 35 minutes for cake, 45 minutes if you want it as bread. Hmm, a banana bread birthday cake…It might just be an idea for a zoo themed party with a monkey design.
Of course, we had to flip it out and let it cool on the rack…
Lauren! Don’t om-nom-nom it all! Save some for us!
