Monday, May 16, 2011

Banana Bread

As I have said and will continue to say is "I hate baking."  I mean I can bake and things are fine and dandy, I would just rather cook an eight course meal and serve it rather than baking.  However, as a mom, it's just something that has to be done.  Well what is one to do with overly ripened bananas besides throw them away or eat them?  Turn them into either these  or make banana bread.  I was talking with a friend on Sunday and she is always making banana bread.  We talked about how I loath baking; she said that banana bread is so simple and it can be put together before the oven is preheated.  Clearly, we have not been following the same recipe.  She is sending it to me via email.  My go to recipe is from "Betty Crocker's Cookbook-Bridal Edition" so apparently it was written for people who had nothing better to do than bake all day and night, right?  Now that I look at it, it's not that complicated it just calls for buttermilk, softened butter, and other baking basics, I just like things that are simple easy and always on hand.  Since I haven't received the recipe and I did indeed have bananas that needed to be saved from the dumpster, I looked through some of my other cookbooks in search for a simpler recipe, which I found in The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook, but Erin Chase also has a website with many different menu ideas.  This recipe came together very quickly.  Guess what?  It was in the pan before the oven was preheated.  I actually doubled this recipe to make an extra loaf for a neighbor who had a 10lb 7oz baby girl at 39 weeks...YOWZAAs, at least it was a c-section.  According to the cookbook calculations, the bread can be made for about $1.33 per loaf, not bad if I do say so myself.

2 medium ripe bananas
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup applesauce
2 eggs
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, mix the bananas, sugar, applesauce, and eggs, until creamy.  Add the flours, baking soda, and salt and mix until batter forms.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove the bread from the oven and place on a cooling rack.  Serve the bread warm with butter, or cold.

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