I eat a TON of bananas. Like at least one per day. Like this diet would be no sweat for me, if it didn’t also involve eating only uncooked food. But I have a very short shelf-life for them — no green spots and definitely no brown spots. (I freeze any “about to turn” bananas before they can get too spotty, which is why my freezer looks like this.)
So what to do faced with a craving for banana bread, but without the requisite almost-black-and-attracting-flies specimens needed for delicious banana baked goods? In two words: roast them. Sticking the bananas, still in their peels, in the oven caramelizes their sugars and turns them into soft, sweet piles of concentrated banana-y goodness.
While I could have used the roasted bananas in my always perfect banana bread recipe, I wanted to try something with whole wheat flour, since its nuttiness is delicious in quick breads and breakfasty sweets. The Kitchn’s original recipe was pretty perfect, though of course I had to make it a one-bowler and used oil instead of butter and brown sugar instead of maple syrup because that’s what I had at home. And then I threw in chocolate chips because … well why not?
I made this early on a Saturday morning, while home for a very lazy Labor Day weekend. It was ready just as we were starting our second cups of coffee, after teasing us for almost an hour with an impossibly delicious aroma. Obviously it was good straight out of the oven, but it really shone the next morning, after the flavors had some time to deepen and blend together. There was no Day 3.
Print
Print
PinIngredients
- 3 medium bananas
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 2/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 3/4 cup chopped pecans
- 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F. Place the unpeeled bananas on a lined baking sheet. Roast for 12-15 minutes, until the bananas are soft and browned (their peels will be black). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly, then scoop out the banana flesh and place in a large bowl.
- Add the oil, brown sugar, vanilla extract and eggs. Mix until well combined, then add the flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir until just combined. Reserving a few of each, fold in the chopped pecans and chocolate chips.
- Transfer the batter to a 9-x-5-inch buttered loaf pan. Bake until the top is golden and a tester comes out clean when inserted into the bread, 50-60 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a rack to finish cooling.
Notes
Adapted from The Kitchn
Leave a Reply