Banana Loaf for Two

 

One thing we both really enjoy in our house is Banana Loaf. I always buy extra bananas so that I can make one for us to enjoy with hot cuppas now and then.  Usually half of it gets given away or thrown out because we can't get it all eaten.

 

Today I managed to cut my recipe in half and bake a really lovely one for just two people.  I was really pleased with how it turned out and couldn't wait to share it with you.

 

You will need a small loaf tin for this.  I have one that is about 7 by 3 by 2 inches and it worked well. It was the perfect size.

 

It rose really nice and tall.  I like to blitz my bananas for banana loaf with my stick blender.  It gets them nice and smooth.  I used two quite small ones.

 

Todd loves his bananas.  I always have hide a couple so that I can make banana bread, or else there would never be any left to make one.

 

And I do really enjoy a banana bread.  You don't often catch me eating a banana unless its sliced onto my rice crispies, but I do love banana bread.

  

This is a lovely moist bread with a beautiful crumb.  The secret to a good quick bread is not over-mixing it.

 

They are much more rustic than cakes.  You don't want to over mix them or you end up with something quite tough, full of holes and they won't rise as high.  Its the same with muffins.

 

This is especially good served sliced and spread with softened butter . . .  I know naughty  . . .

 

I would rather have butter than icing or jam or anything sweet on it.

 

In all truth this is also very good with nothing on it.  I added toasted walnuts, but chocolate chips would also be very good . . .  or butterscotch chips, or both . . .

 

I know.  I am a glutton through and through.

  

In any case.  I was super pleased with how this turned out. It is moist and delicious and has a beautiful flavour.  I think you are sure to love it also!

Banana Loaf for Two

Yield: 8 slices

Author: Marie Rayner

Nice and moist with a delicious banana flavour.

ingredients:

• 60g butter softened (1/4 cup)
• 70g granulated sugar (1/3 cup)
• 1 large free range egg
• 125g mashed banana (1/2 cup)
• 2 TBS sour milk (see note)
• 175g plain flour (1 1/4 cups)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• handful of toasted chopped walnuts (optional)

instructions:

How to cook Banana Loaf for Two

1. Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.  Butter a small loaf tin (7-1/2 by 3-3/4 by 2-1/8 inch) and line with some baking paper.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl, then beat in the egg, banana and sour milk.
3. Whisk the flour, soda and salt together.  Add to the creamed mixture stirring just to combine.  It is okay and preferable for the batter to be a bit lumpy. Stir in walnuts if using. (You could also use chocolate chips.)
4. Spoon into the prepared loaf tin.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean and it is well risen and golden brown.
6. Lift out onto a wire rack to cool completely before cutting into slices to enjoy.

NOTES:

To make the sour milk.  Measure 1/2 tsp of white vinegar into a TBS measure and fill with milk.  Dump into a small cup.  Add the other TBS of milk and let sit for five minutes.

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I am really enjoying this little exercise in making smaller recipes.  Not sure what I will do next!  Watch this space! 

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Rich Banana Bread

 

  

This is probably one of my favourite Banana Breads. It is the one I used to make for my boss when I worked at the Manor.  The Mr loved it for breakfast in the mornings.

 

For him I would have to toast it beneath the grill in the toaster oven until it was golden brown and crisp on the edges, almost burnt, but not quite.  He wanted it very crisp.

 

After that I would lay slivers of cold sweet butter onto its surface and serve it to him on a hot plate while the butter was still melting down into those crisp edges and golden surface . . .  he really did enjoy it.

 

No small wonder as it is a truly beautiful banana bread.  Moist and rich.  It is the sour cream that makes it so  . . . 

 

He liked it with toasted pecan nuts . . .  I prefer it with toasted English walnuts  . . .  a love that hearkens back to my father's own love for walnuts  . . . maple walnut was his favourite ice cream.  As it is mine.

 

I like to sprinkle more chopped walnuts onto the surface of the loaf prior to baking  . . .  they look really nice sitting there on top . . .

 

This is a loaf that cuts beautifully on the first day.  Most loaves you need to wait overnight to slice.  Not this one.

 

Todd enjoys it in thick slices spread with softened butter . . .

  

It really is a lovely bread, on the first day, and on the second day, the third, the fourth  . . .  and so on and so on . . .trust me when I say you won't have it hanging around for long.

Yield: one medium loaf

Author: Marie Rayner

Rich Banana Bread

Moist and delicious and studded with crunchy toasted walnuts. Everything a good banana bread should be.

ingredients:

• 120g butter, melted (1/2 cup)
• 190g sugar (1 cup)
• 2 large free range eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 210g plain flour (1 1/2 cups)
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 60g sour cream (1/2 cup)
• 60g chopped toasted walnuts, plus more to sprinkle on top (1/2 cup)
• 2 medium bananas peeled and pureed

instructions:

How to cook Rich Banana Bread

1. Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a medium loaf tin (9X5) and line with baking paper. Set aside.
2. Sift the flour, soda and salt together. Set aside.
3. Whisk together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture until smooth, then fold in the sour cream and bananas. Stir in the walnuts. Spread batter in the prepared pan, levelling the top. Sprinkle with a few more walnut pieces if desired.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, until well rise and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave in the tin to cool for about 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Cut into slices to serve. We like it buttered. Store any leftovers in an airtight container and use within 4 to 5 days. This also freezes well.

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I had this bottle of Monin Butterscotch syrup and I thought it would add a special touch to just brush some of it on top of the loaf while it was still warm . . .

 

I think I was inspired . . .  it made something which was already perfectly delicious even more so!

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Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

 

Okay so you might be asking yourself, do you really need another Banana Bread???  I say YES!  You can never have too many Banana Bread Recipes! 

 

Especially when they are as moist and flavourful as this one!  Stogged full of lovely banana flavours and chocolate chips, this spells W I N N E R all round! 

 

I have a multitude of Banana Breads on here.   Each one is  quite different than the rest and all are delicious in their own right.

 

Plain old Banana Bread, Nutella Banana Bread, Chocolate Marbled,  Sour Cream, Oat Topped, etc.  They are all very good.

 

This recipe I am sharing today boasts a sour cream batter . . .  sour cream makes for a very moist batter  . . .

 

The only leavening in it is some bicarbonate of soda.  When you are using something acidic like sour cream or plain yogurt (and by the way you can also use the equivalent amount of yogurt in this recipe instead of the sour cream) you need to add bicarbonate of soda (baking soda).

 

The bicarb works with the acid in the sour cream/yogurt/buttermilk to create a chemical reaction which causes the baked good to rise in the oven. It may even start to rise before you get it into the oven, so its best to get whatever you are making into the heat of the oven as soon as you can. 

 

There are plenty of chocolate chips in this bread.  I don't buy special ones.  I just use the semi-sweet chocolate chips that you can get at Costco.  Kirkland brand.  I like them.

 

I stir them into the dry ingredients before I combine the wet and the dry for the bread.  

 

When you are adding something heavy, like nuts, or dried fruit, or chocolate chips to a batter, it always helps to stir them into the flour before you stir them into the creamed mixture.

 

It helps to keep them from sinking to the bottom of the loaf/bake.  You end up with a much more even distribution throughout your bake.

 

In any case this is truly a lovely bake. You could also add chopped nuts if you wanted to . . .  

 

Toasted Walnuts or Pecans would be just lovely  . . . 

  

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Yield: Makes one medium loaf

Author: Marie Rayner

Do you really need another Banana Bread.  YES!  Especially one as moist and flavourful as this one!

ingredients:

• 3 medium well ripened bananas (about 1 1/2 cups mashed)
• 100g soft light brown sugar (1/2 cup packed)
• 95g granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
• 120g butter, melted (1/2 cup)
• 2 large free range eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 60g sour cream (1/2 cup) (can use low fat)
• 190g plain flour (1 1/3 cup)
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 135g semi-sweet chocolate chips (3/4 cup)

instructions:

How to cook Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

1. Preheat the oven to 165*C/325*F/ gas mark 3.  Butter a 9 by 5 inch loaf tin and line with baking paper, leaving an overhang to help lift out at the end.
2. Whisk the flour, soda and salt together in a bowl.  Stir in 2/3 of the chocolate chips and set aside.
3. Peel and then beat the bananas with an electric whisk until thoroughly mashed.  Beat in the eggs, sour cream, brown sugar, melted butter and vanilla until thoroughly mixed.  Fold the flour mixture into the wet mixture, just to combine.  Pour into the prepared loaf tin. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips over top.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.  If you think it is browning too quickly towards the end, cover lightly with foil. (Mine took 1 hour 15 minutes.)
5. Let cool completely in the pan before lifting out.  Store at room temperature in an airtight container.  Cut into thick slices to serve.

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This bread is so moist and delicious, I declare it downright dangerous!   

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Chocolate Marbled Banana Bread

 

Todd was just getting ready to throw the latest lot of over-ripe bananas the other day into the bin when I rescued them. Don't throw them away, I said!  They are perfect for baking with!  I had been eye balling a recipe for a Chocolate Marbled Banana Bread in a book I have which is entitled The Best of Cooking Light, published by Oxmoor House in 2004.

 

Its a recipe I had been eyeballing for a very long time, but had never gotten around to baking until this week. Chocolate and Banana are two flavours that go very well together. And at only 183 calories per slice, with less 5g of fat, it looked like a bread that someone who was watching the calories and fat could treat themselves to.  Its a bit too high in the sugar department for me to indulge in however. That doesn't stop Todd from enjoying it though!

 

It is a very simple make.   A cup of sugar gets creamed together with a small amount of butter. The original recipe suggested egg substitute, but I used regular large free range eggs.  Egg substitute is not something which is readily available over here, although you can get cartons of only egg whites.

  

I mashed and weighed the banana for the convenience of my British Friends.  I had four smallish bananas and they worked out to the right amount of banana needed.  You will also need some low fat plain yogurt.  This is something I always have in the house.

 

Also chocolate chips, which you melt and stir into a portion of the banana to provide the chocolate batter for the marbeling.  I weighed the batter needed for that process as well.  You're welcome!!

 

I could have done a bit better on the marbeling I think. I didn't want to mix it in too much so I erred on the side of caution, but I could have been a bit  more aggressive.

 

It doesn't make a massive loaf either, which suits us well as there is only Todd and myself, and he will basically be the only one eating it, which works.  I did have a taste however because I wanted to be able to give you my honest opinion of it!

 

*Chocolate Marbeled Banana Bread*

Serves 16

Printable Recipe   

Moist and delicious, with a lovely thread of chocolate batter marbeled through it. 

280g of plain flour (2 cups)

3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

1/2 tsp salt

190g caster sugar (1 cup)

65g butter, softened (1/4 cup)

270g mashed ripe banana (1 1/2 cups)

2 large free range eggs

100g plain low fat yogurt (1/3 cup)

90g chocolate chips (1/2 cup)

 

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F. gas mark 4.  Spray a nonstick loaf tin (8 1/2 by 4 1/2) well  with low fat cooking spray.  Set aside.

Whisk together the flour, soda and salt.  Set aside.

 

 Cream the butter and sugar together until well blended.  Beat in the eggs, banana and yogurt, until well blended.  Add the flour mixture, mixing it in only just until moist with no dry streaks.  Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave at 30 second intervals until melted and smooth. 

Remove 210g (1 cup) of the batter from the main bowl to a smaller bowl.  Stir in the melted chocolate chips to combine well.  Spoon the batters alternately into the prepared pan.  Swirl together lightly with a round bladed knife. 

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until a wooden pick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, prior to removing to a wire rack to cool completely.  Wrap tightly to store. Cut into slices to serve.

 

It was not quite as moist as most banana breads, probably due to the lack of fat in the recipe.  I wonder if that might change by using some brown sugar for a portion of the white?  I will have to bake again, try that out,  and let you know how it goes! In the meantime, this was a very good banana loaf and quite tasty for something which is half healthy for you!  Bon Appetit and Happy Weekend!

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