Rating: 💋 💋 💋 😘
I know I am late to the game here, but I got around to making quarantine banana bread eventually. A year ago, when we all first found ourselves locked in our apartments/houses; when isolation and social distancing were a new thing; before I had multiple face masks to coordinate with my outfits, mood, and occasion; it seemed like the entire social media population dove elbow-deep into bowls of mashed bananas. At the time though, I was isolating with my partner in crime and roommate, Shannon. The thing is, my sister does not like bananas. We made lockdown amusing in our own way. We had birthday cake, we had brownies, we had homemade granola. There was not a banana bread in sight.
Since then, I moved back in with my parents, who are not anti-banana. As the weather cooled down and we got more adventurous in the kitchen, filling our days with baking and cooking to pass the time, we eventually decided it was our turn. Here we have our stab at the banana bread craze.
This recipe is adapted from A Trip to the Beach: Living on Island Time in the Caribbean by Melinda Blanchard and Robert Blanchard.
Blanchard's Banana Bread
Makes 1 loaf
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 sticks butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3-4 bananas
- just under 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 2 cups flour, plus extra for pan
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
Preparation:
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Grease one loaf pan with butter and sprinkle with flour.
- Mix the 1 1/2 sticks of butter and the sugar in a standing mixer with the paddle attachment. Then gently, one by one, beat the eggs into the flour mixture. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl after the addition of each egg.
- Put the mixer on low and add 3-4 bananas - depending on how banana-y you want your bread to taste - and the lemon juice. Blend until smooth.
- Then, mix in 2 cups flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Keep the mixer on low and add in the flour mixture, stirring until it is just blended.
*Melinda notes that she likes to do this step by hand to ensure she does not overmix the batter.
- Pour batter into the loaf pan and bake for approximately one hour, until an inserted toothpick or fork comes cleanly out of the center of the loaf.
The lemon juice is a great addition because it makes sure the bread does not taste toooo sweet. The original recipe instructs the baker to mash the bananas, but when in Rebecca's kitchen, we follow her rules above all else. She proclaimed, "Why bother mashing the bananas when they get whipped in the mixer anyway?" True that, as my mom often likes to say. We threw them in whole and let the mixer work its magic. The original recipe also calls for an hour in the oven, but we found an hour and ten minutes was more accurate to our experience. Check with your oven at home, as ovens vary. An hour is a good start, but be sure to put it back in the oven if anything sticks to the test instrument. Also, if you like nuts or chocolate chips - or even peanut butter chips, ooh I am going to have to bug my mom about that idea - feel free to add them in at the end of mixing and even make a pretty topping out of it. We went classic this time around but I encourage that, once you know the rules, break them.
Isn't she lovely? This banana bread makes a tasty treat breakfast or a light dessert. It is perfectly moist, just the right amount of sweet, and has a nice banana flavor without going too far. I love having it with some fresh berries on the side.
Happy March! I have a good feeling about this month. I might be biased, but I just have some sense that some good news is coming, that things will get better, and that there is reason for hope. I will not be celebrating the one year anniversary of isolation, but that is next week's problem. I cannot even talk about it right now. *sniff*
I will just be over here, fervently praying for an early, long, warm, pretty, much-needed spring.
🌸 🌹🍃 🌺 🌱 💐
XX,
MK
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