From our Blog
Share the art of homemade banana bread
We’ve frankly never met a banana bread we didn’t like, unless perhaps it was too dry or dense. It’s called bread, but isn’t it really just cake in disguise? Banana bread is a perfect vehicle for experimentation and self expression. Art, if you will. All it takes is a good base recipe and some “add-ins.” Nuts and chocolate chips come immediately to mind.
Okay. So we’re throwing out a challenge. Tell us your favorite Banana Bread combo or share YOUR favorite banana bread recipe, and we’ll enter your name in a random drawing to win a copy of Desperation Entertaining!
As for variations, a bit of toasted coconut and maybe a bit of crushed pineapple would send it toward the tropics, or for a back-to-the-farm feeling, a version with chopped fresh apple and a dose of cinnamon might be nice.The main thing to keep in mind is not to add too many ingredients with a lot of extra liquid. (Press the juice out of the crushed pineapple, for example.)
Email your favorite flavor combo idea to tellus@kitchenscoop.com. Or leave it in the comments box attached to this post. (We need your city/state, too!) Good luck!
Related Recipes
Banana Chocolate Chip Bread
Chocolate is the perfect compliment to banana and elevates this quick bread to dessert status without overwhelming the delicate nature of the bread.
Read full recipe.
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Comments
Hi Beverly!
Your recipe sounds great. I’ve been on a banana bread kick lately so I will be sure to try it. I have been getting my recipes from this site: http://www.banana-bread.biz/. It has tons of great recipes with some really different ingredients. The woman behind this site calls herself bananabreadnut on Twitter.
With all of the recipes I try, I substitute the oil with applesauce and a portion of the sugar with Splenda. I’ve also sprinkled in a little ground flax seed. I guess I’m trying to ease the guilt!
Great ideas! Thanks Amy. Does the applesauce and flax seed make it dry?
Not at all. But I wouldn’t OD on the fax seed. I could see potential for dryness there. I sprinkle in about 2 TBL. max.
My favorite banana bread tip: As bananas become overripe to eat, put them in the freezer right in the peel. Once you have enough to make your bread, just thaw. Cut a slit in one end and just squeeze out the banana. No mashing is needed. Freezing the bananas also makes a moister bread with richer flavor.
Thanks Wendy….cuts down on the fruit fly issue in the kitchen, too, which I have tons of right now! Does anybody know how to exorcise them?
I just read a recipe for banana pecan mini loaves in the Charlotte Observer in N.C. on May 6th 2009 and it says you have the recipe for a large loaf on your web site. I can’t seem to find it. thanks,k
Just underneath the “blog” with the photo of the big loaf (that’s a picture of it BTW), if you scroll down you’ll see a tab for related recipe with a little photo of the bread. Just click on that title and it should take you right to the recipe. Let me know if it works!
http://kitchenscoop.com/recipes/banana-chocolate-chip-bread/
Here’s the exact link, btw. you can cut and paste it into your browser and it also will take you to the recipe!
OK, pardon me but this new site is like a Ferrari compared to our old one and I’m still learning how to drive it! So, FYI, if you want to find any recipe on Kitchen Scoop, or know if anything in general is on the site, you have a bunch of options: You can go to the Search box on the upper right corner of the Home page and type in any key words you’re looking for and then hit enter. If it’s there, you’ll go to a link.
OR, you can click the Recipes button on the Home page and then you can search for recipes in several ways—by ingredients or meal category, for example.
Hope this helps.
Thank you Beverly. A large loaf is just what I need for my hips. Again, thanks.
k
I love to make Double Chocolate Banana Bread. It has cocoa and chocolate chips. So good!
Fruit flys seem to love balsamic vinegar! I put a little bowl of it on the counter and they drown themselves. You just need to dump and start a fresh after a few have died because the rest will ignore it. I think wine works just as well, I just don’t always have that and I’ve always got balsamic vinegar.
I love it Michelle! We just swatted fruit flies all through dinner. I think it must be the season here in Florida. I’m going to the kitchen now to put out my vinegar. I’ll do a count in the morning and report back!
I love banana bread too! I cook it in a 9x13 pan then cut, wrap it in plastic, and freeze for school lunches. I used canned pumpkin when I thought I had bananas but did not. The bread turned out to be a hit.
So I made this recipe—turned out really good and was a big hit at our gathering (especially because it was still warm and smelled delicious!)
A banana bread question: why is some banana bread darker than others? The ones I made were very white bread-like (cake-like), while others I’ve had / made have been darker in color, more marbled-looking. Does it have to do with the bananas? Mine weren’t over over ripe, just ripe, or the flour, or some other ingredient (brown sugar maybe)?