My freezer is overflowing with bananas. I adore the fruit, but only at certain moments in their ripening cycle. For me to eat a banana straight up, it has to be slightly green, when it juuust starts to turn into a beautiful greenish-yellow and the peel is easy to open but still lends a nice cracking sound to the ears. Once the first brown dot appears on the skin, or it starts to smell that particular banana smell, it goes straight into my freezer.
This leaves me with a very short, very precise banana-eating window. And it’s hard to eat a whole bundle of bananas in such short a window.
Now, if I were smart, I’d peel the bananas, chop them up before freezing them, then divide them into ziploc bags all portioned out (for smoothies or banana ice cream). I occasionally do this, when I remember to, but most of the time I just throw the whole thing – peel and all – in the freezer when I’m running out the door.
Thus, I make a butt-ton of banana bread. It’s the most satisfying way to eat old bananas! Just thaw three frozen bananas (still in the peel) on your counter for a couple of hours, and they’re the perfect consistency for banana bread.
Damn, banana bread. Why you gotta be so good? With your slightly sweet, cake-like centre and your crispy, crunchy exterior. Sweet meets savoury meets carby deliciousness. There’s nothing quite like a warm slice of banana bread with a generous smear of butter. SO GOOD!
I have a banana bread recipe that I make on the regular. It yields the perfect loaf every time (no joke) and is really SO easy to make. The best part about my go-to banana bread recipe is that it’s the perfect base for a multitude of additions.
Chocolate chips, walnuts, raisins, shredded coconut, candied orange peel, cranberries… you name it. For this recipe I’ve settled on a classic: maple and walnut.
The maple is very subtle, and just adds to the overall sweetness of the loaf without going overboard.
Some people say that banana bread is more of an autumnal recipe, but I make it year round. Sometimes, it’s even better in the summer months. Crack the windows, get a nice breeze circulating in your house, and make some banana bread. Your house will smell amazing!
And a little secret, banana bread pairs oh so well with a glass of chilled chardonnay.
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| Maple Walnut Banana Bread | | Print |
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ⅔ cup sugar
- ¾ stick of butter, room temperature
- 2 large eggs
- 3 ripe bananas, mashed
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp maple extract
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
- Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a loaf pan; set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together sugar and butter until fluffy. Add in eggs, bananas, maple syrup, and vanilla, beating until smooth.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in 3 parts, mixing until smooth after each addition. Fold in walnuts.
- Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Let cool for 15 minutes in pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
What type of sugar did you use for this recipe? The last time I made banana bread I used Nigel Slater’s recipe, which uses muscovado sugar and makes a dense loaf with an amazing butterscotch-like flavour.
Great, now I’ve made myself hungry again! 😀
Tried this cake as an alternative to my normal Banana and walnut cake. It is a great hit and I will retire the normal recipe for this one, being a welcome and thankful addition to our diet. My husband loves it as well.