Stella, May I know what you do with too-far-gone bananas? How to make banana bread super!
Of course you may! The answer lately has been banana bread. Truth be told, I was never a fan of banana bread, but I decided to try it out when I forgot to put the almost too-far-gone bananas in the freezer. (I like to blitz together frozen bananas and my kefir for a banana shake.) Surprisingly Mister is a fan of banana bread! I say surprisingly because he doesn't really like baked goods. (The other two on the list? Blueberry muffins and carrot cake.) Instead of making the banana bread plain and boring, I decided to jazz it up with some blueberries and chocolate chips! For today's Tutorial Tuesday, I am sharing my recipe for Super Blueberry Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.
This is a really simple dump and mix recipe. All the ingredients are easy to mix (no creaming of butter and sugar, no special folding) How did I make this
banana bread super? There's a crunchy top and some blueberries and chocolate! I decided to use the mini size of the chocolate chips and the wild boreal blueberries I mentioned (
click here) so you can't just pick out blueberries or chocolate. Since they are semi-sweet chocolate chips, there really isn't a discernible contrast in sweetness (well depends on your blueberry sweetness). On to the recipe!
You will need: some ripe bananas, eggs, vanilla extract, flour, brown sugar, chocolate chips, butter or oil, two eggs, nutmeg, salt, oil, and baking soda. (I know we have a very large size of baking soda, but I use it as a scrub and for laundry! Posts about both should be coming up this month.) This picture shows more or less what I actually used. It has an extra egg and the oil, but it's missing the blueberries and white sugar.
First you want to mash up the bananas. I have here three of them. They should mash up pretty easily with a fork, especially if the bananas are really ripe. If they don't mash easily, you may want to blitz them in a blender or else you will have chunks of banana in the end.
Then add in melted butter and mix thoroughly.
Mix in the sugar. For a more caramelly taste, use all brown sugar. For a more sweeter taste, then use all sugar. I decided to use a combination of both. Note: using all brown sugar will result in a darker loaf.
Next comes in vanilla extract. (Thanks to Mister for the pouring shot!)
Nutmeg! Add as much nutmeg as you want. Also at this stage add in the egg, baking soda, and salt.
Then add in the flour. That's it for the basic banana bread recipe. Pour into a greased and floured loaf pan bake for 50 minutes at 350°F. When the toothpick comes out clean or dry then you are done!
If you want to make your banana bread super then add in some blueberries and/or chocolate chips! I would suggest add an extra tablespoon of flour if you are adding in more ingredients. The flour will help absorb the moisture produced (especially if you are using frozen blueberries) and keep the blueberries and chocolate suspended in the loaf. That is unless you like the extra goodies sinking to the bottom.
Then into the oven the loaf goes! Bake time is the same as if you didn't make it super. 350°F for 50 minutes or until the toothpick come out clean/dry.
Do you see the crunchy top? That's because right before sticking it in the oven I generously sprinkled some white sugar on top. (about 1 tablespoon for the standard loaf size.) I thought that would make it a little extra special. It did make it so when the loaf rose the steam escaped along the sides. If I didn't add the extra sugar then, it would create a crack down the middle. Either way I think it still looks nice!
And boy was it tasty! For plating, we fanned out some strawberries in a star shape (again with the berries!) and dolloped some whipped cream on top. Then we offset some slices of the super banana bread.
At the end we topped the whipped cream with the blueberries to show that the banana bread was also full of them. (probably should have added the chocolate chips too.) You can see the result without the blueberries in the second picture. How prefect is this for breakfast on Independence Day! The red, white and blue really make this patriotic. If you make this recipe for super banana bread then post a picture and tag me!
Super Banana Bread (one 5x9" loaf pan)
3 ripe bananas, mashed
⅓ cup melted butter/oil
¾ cup sugar (I used ½ cup of packed brown sugar and ¼ cup of white sugar)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1½ (+ 1 tablespoon) flour
2 tablespoons blueberries
2 tablespoons chocolate chips (I used the mini size)
sprinkle of white sugar
1. Preheat oven to 350°F, grease and flour loaf pan. 2. In a large bowl, mix together mashed bananas and melted butter or oil. 3. Add in sugar (whichever combination you choose), 4. Mix in beaten egg. 5. Mix in vanilla, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. 6. Then finally mix in 1½ cups of flour. 7. Mix in blueberries and chocolate chips with the reserved 1 tablespoon of flour. 8. Pour in the mixture into prepared loaf pan and sprinkle the top with 1 tablespoon of sugar. 9. Bake for 50 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean or dry.
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