Really Good (and Pretty Healthy) Banana Bread

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If you are like us, you have tons of bananas on your kitchen counter top. Maybe you have one of those nifty banana hangers, but you still have lots of bananas. What can you do with tons of bananas (well, 3)? Make banana bread! Especially if you go to the store and buy more bananas because you think you are out, only to come home and see that there are five, hanging right there and looking at you all accusatory-like.

What then? Well, you wait for three of them to get all dark and past their prime, and then you laugh wickedly as you mash them up in a little bowl. Ma-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Victory is mine!

Er, okay then. The topping for this bread is inspired by my favorite scone at Bakery Bar — the fennel seed and raisin scone. If you don’t like fennel seeds, you should probably not use them here…

This is a pretty standard banana bread recipe. I typically replace the oil with apple sauce when I make any quick breads. If you are not into that sort of thing, just use the same amount of vegetable or canola oil for the apple sauce listed below.

Banana Bread with a Brown Sugar & Fennel Crust
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup apple sauce
3 bananas, very ripe, mashed
2 tbsp sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup walnuts
2 tbsp golden raisins
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp fennel seeds
Non-stick canola oil spray

Set oven to 350 degrees and spray a loaf pan with no-stick spray. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and fennel seeds. Set aside.

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Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Beat sugar and eggs with a mixer until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.

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Add apple sauce, mashed bananas, sour cream and vanilla. Mix until combined.

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Fold in dry ingredients and nuts. Pour into your loaf pan and sprinkle with the raisins.

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Top with the brown sugar and fennel mixture and give the top a quick spray with canola oil.

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Bake for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Check after 45 minutes. Use a toothpick or knife. You want it to come out fairly clean. If not, back in for a few more minutes. Mine ending up baking for about 55 minutes. You will be greatly tempted not to, but let it cool about 30 minutes before slicing.

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So, you might notice that some of the raisins got all dark. The first time this happened to me I was all sad, thinking I had burnt the raisins. Well, don’t worry! Even though they get a little toasty, they taste just fine!

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5 Replies to “Really Good (and Pretty Healthy) Banana Bread”

  1. I have had the same banana conundrum of late, throwing out 2 black bananas a week, which caused me to declare the 4 banana rule. DG is not allowed to buy more than 4 bananas a time at the store. It’s ok to grab a big bunch and only take off a few too!

  2. CG: that is a super good rule. the only problem for us is that i mainly do the shopping and he mainly eats the bananas and so I can never remember if he needs bananas or not… 🙂

  3. BG: Duh. Fixed. I can’t even blame that on early morning posting 🙂 Thanks for catching those omissions!!

  4. See, this is why I can’t post my cooking pictures…even your in-process pictures look neater than my finished products! 😉

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