Late Night Loaf



Last night we didn’t get home until around 9PM.  We stayed in Ottawa and had dinner with my father in-law.  All day I had banana bread brain and when we got in the front door I said “I really feel like baking”.  The hubby knows that when I want to bake I am on a mission and nobody can rest until I bake!  So he said “how can I help”, I got the green lightJ 

I took out my cue card with the banana bread recipe I’ve been making since I was in university and decided to make a few adjustments this time, just to see what happens.  I put half butter and half shortening, I usually use only shortening.  Also, I added 1/3 cup of brown sugar to replace 1/3 cup of the sugar.  I think the addition of brown sugar sped up the cooking time a little and made the outside toastier than usual.  Finally, I had an extra banana that would not get eaten in our lunches this week so I sliced it up and topped the unbaked batter with them.

At first I was a little disappointed with the end result. Mostly because the sliced banana sort of sunk into the batter instead of sitting on top the way I hoped.  But it created chunks of whole banana baked into the loaf and I liked it! They were toastier than usual and didn’t quite puff up like they usually do, that could be from the addition of butter.  The shortening usually creates and very fluffy batter, this one was denser.

We each brought a big piece of the loaf to work and the critiques were positive all around…fewf!  So I decided I would post it anyways.  BUT, one of these days I’ll make the really thing and show you how much better it is….promise

My Banana Bread-Modified

Yields 2 loaves

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup brown suger
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1/3 cup butter
• 2 ½ cup flour
• 1 ¾ tsp baking powder
• 1 ¼ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 cup vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 4 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 banana, sliced

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Grease and flour two loaf pans
3. Blend sugar, butter and shortening in a large bowl until smooth
4. In a separate bowl sift together baking powder, baking soda and salt.
5. In another small bowl whisk together vanilla, buttermilk and eggs.
6. Add flour in ½ cup measures with 1 tbsp of liquid, stirring well between each addition. Continue until all flour and liquid mixtures have been incorporated.
7. Fold in mashed bananas, be sure not to over mix!
8. Divide batter between two loaf pans and top loafs with sliced banana in a line down the center of the loaf
9. Bake 40-50 minutes until the tops are golden brown and center is firm.
10. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes then remove from pan and cool completely.

ENJOY!