I’m not a fan of bananas, and generally having a strong banana taste in food items. Why would someone have a banana smoothie? Banana ice cream?? No thank you. Even getting myself to eat a banana is a task that takes about 10 minutes long. One bite, chew, swallow forcefully and continue. I used to force myself to eat them for health reasons. Now I’ll just stick them in a smoothie with MANY other delicious ingredients to hide the taste.
However, ironically, I do like some desserts with bananas. By some, I mean banoffee pie. Mainly because of the caramel/dulce de leech flavoring and the crust.
And then there is banana bread. I do love banana bread. Odd given that banana is one of the main ingredients, but everything else combined subdues the strong flavor. I also make sure to mash up the bananas enough (no chunks please!). I also believe that one of the reasons I’m happy with banana bread is because I always add in other flavors, like chocolate, peanut butter or nuts. So clearly I’m just masking the actual banana part…
As usual, the banana bread making process comes as a result of having overly ripe bananas that need to be consumed immediately. This happened last Thursday. My dad was in town for the weekend, so I wanted to keep spoiling him with food. He mentioned the bananas were going going gone, so while he napped, I got up and immediately started the baking process. What a lucky man, he gets to nap and when he wakes up – FRESH banana bread!
So admittedly, while most banana bread recipes call for 3 bananas, I only use 2. Once again, the less banana emphasis, the better. At least for me. Feel free to add more bananas if you choose.
Recipe a la Ayla:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 bananas – very ripe
1/4 cup of milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Additional: Chocolate chips and nuts (walnuts, pecans, whatever you want)
Method:
Oven at 175 Celsius.
So I’m more of a using one bowl type of girl.
Melt the butter, put that in the bowl and whisk with sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time and whisk some more.
Then add in the milk and vanilla. Whisk. Add in the mashed bananas, and keep whisking. Then I add in the baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix it around. Finally, add in the flour and combine.
Lastly – if you want, add in whatever else you want. Chocolate or nuts generally are the best combination!
I use a loaf pan, which has been buttered. Then pour in the batter and bake for 55 minutes. Cool, remove and eat.
Eating With Ayla 