When I was a little girl, one of my favorite things to bake (and eat) was banana bread. I learned early on that the riper the bananas the better (and sweeter) the bread. Fast forward to last week--> I bought some bananas and then managed to totally forget about them. I managed to stumble upon them in my kitchen on Friday, but by then they were all brown and over-ripe. Well, my forgetfulness turned out to be a blessing because I decided to continue poking around my kitchen to see what else I might have on hand. I ended up coming up with this recipe from the ingredients in my fridge and pantry. Cast of Characters:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), room temp
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (1 single serving container)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2-3 tsp cinnamon (depending on your preference)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Using an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy
- Add eggs and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
- Mix in Greek yogurt.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
- Alternate mixing in the mashed banana and the flour mixture. DO NOT OVER MIX! The bread will be tough and rubbery if you do :(
- Bake for about 60 - 70 minutes. Test to see if the bread is done by inserting a toothpick into the middle of the bread. If it comes out clean, you're good to go. If it comes out with batter on it, keep the bread in a bit longer.
If you really like banana nut bread, try folding in about 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans into the batter before baking. Enjoy!
