Going bananas for bread

Banana Bread Recipe

One of the best things about living in San Diego is the ability to pretty much grow anything. We have a banana tree in the side yard that gets a ton of sun and stays warm since it’s tucked next to the house. The bananas are not your typical variety that you find at your grocery store as they’re much smaller and take more time to ripen. They are called Apple bananas due to their smaller size and are native to Central and South America.  Apple Bananas are now grown in tropical regions such as the Hawaiian Islands, Honduras, Malaysia and Mexico, so you can imagine how happy we are to have one not only growing, but thriving in our backyard. The taste is similar to a banana, but tastes more banana-e (I know, that’s not a word).  Basically it’s like taking your average banana and multiplying the taste times ten, that’s how delish these little guys taste!

Usually we get about 10 bunches throughout the year so I’m always trying to find ways to use them. Most of the time I slice and freeze them to make smoothies or healthy ice cream. I also use them to make frozen peanut butter banana snacks to have on hand when the sugar monster appears (which happens often with me). However, with the most recent bunch I decided to make banana bread. I had so many bananas that I ended up making four loaves of bread, so family and friends also benefited from the banana bounty (and kept me from eating four loaves by myself -which I could totally do, I know…totally bananas right! LOL).

Recipe

Preheat oven to 350°

8 bananas (if you use traditional bananas you can cut this down to 4)

½ cup of coconut sugar (if your bananas are not very ripe/sweet you may want to increase this to ¾ to 1 cup)

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

¼ cup of coconut oil – melted

1 ½ cup of all-purpose flour

1 ¼ teaspoon of baking powder

½ teaspoon of baking soda

½ -1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon of salt

½ to 1 cup of chocolate chips for the topping

Mash the bananas in a bowl (you can use a food processor, but I don’t mind the chunks). Mix in the sugar, egg, vanilla and coconut oil.

In another bowl mix together all the dry ingredients.

Fold the dry mixture into the wet mixture, but don’t overmix. Pour batter into an oiled bread loaf pan and place in the oven for about 45-50 minutes. Check at 45-minute mark to determine if loaf is finished. The bread is baked through when an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Wine to pair?

Okay so I know most people eat banana bread in the morning with some coffee or tea, but some eat it after dinner (or if you’re like me, pretty much anytime of the day). If you’re enjoying it in the evening you can pair it with a young tawny port or even a late harvest Pinot Gris. I must admit I usually take my banana bread sans wine, but I still think either the port or sweet wine would go well for an after-dinner dessert. So enjoy and cheers (with wine or coffee) to this bread!