Banana bread is one of my favorite baked treats in the fall. But don’t you hate when you have the urge to make it and then discover all your bananas are bright yellow and nowhere near ripe enough for banana bread? Or worse yet, you decide to let your bananas ripen on your kitchen counter for a few days, but when they are finally mushy and black (with perhaps a few fruit flies hanging around) you don’t have time to bake, so they end up getting tossed in the garbage.
Well I’m here to tell you that bananas no longer have to dictate when you can bake a delicious loaf. By baking the bananas you can get them perfectly ripe without having to let mushy bananas sit on your counter for days (added bonus: say goodbye to the fruit flies).
Place a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet (the bananas will sometimes leak, so the paper just makes for easier clean up). Lay 3 bananas on the cookie sheet and bake in the oven at 300 degrees for 30 minutes.
The bananas will turn black and the insides will end up being mushy and perfect for baking. Remove the bananas and let them cool. Next use a fork to mash up the insides of the bananas in a small bowl.
Add two tablespoons of shortening and 1 cup sugar into a large bowl. Cream them together.
Add one egg to the bowl. In a separate bowl mix together 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Alternate between adding the flour mixture, 2 tablespoons milk, and 1 1/2 cups mashed bananas into the large bowl with the egg. Feel free to add 1/2 cup nuts to the mixture. A few years ago I had a bag of chopped walnuts I wanted to get rid of, so I thought I would throw them into my banana bread (I normally am not a fan of nuts in my banana bread). While TJ was eating his first slice he cracked his tooth on a walnut. After getting a crown put on the tooth, it ended up being a very expensive loaf of banana bread! No more nuts for us.
Stir with a spatula until you get it all mixed into the bowl.
Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan. I always do this by covering my hand with a sandwich baggie and dipping my fingers into the tub of crisco. Then I spread it around and simply throw the baggie in the garbage, no extra clean up. Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees or until a toothpick tested comes out clean.
Once done baking remove the banana bread from the loaf pan and let it rest on a cooling rack. I hope you enjoy this tasty recipe and try the baked banana trick if you ever find that you don’t have perfectly ripened bananas.
Servings |
loaf
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- 2 tablespoons shortening
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1-1/2 cups mashed bananas
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup nuts optional
Ingredients
|
|
- Cream sugar and shortening in a large bowl. Add an egg.
- In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Alternately add the milk, bananas, and the flour mixture to the sugar. Add nuts (optional). Stir until well mixed.
- Pour into a greased 9x5-inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees or until a toothpick tested comes out clean.
- When finished baking, remove loaf from pan and place on a cooling rack.