If you ever find yourself with bananas too ripe to be appetizing, this is the recipe for you: turn them into mini loaves of banana nut bread. This old fashioned quick bread, made with baking soda instead of yeast, is a fast assembly. The texture is rather like a muffin, chewy and soft from the bananas, with walnuts to provide the needed crunch. Make these cute loaves and serve tiny slices for breakfast, snack time, or anytime in between. Just don't call it cake. I generally refer to it as Banana Butt Bread, because I cannot resist the alliteration.
Banana Nut Bread
3 large, ripe bananas, the riper the better
1/2 c. butter, melted
3/4 c. white sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 c. sour cream
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped
Mash the bananas on a plate, using a fork; you should have about 1 3/4 cups. Melt the butter and let it cool a bit. Toast the walnuts in a baking sheet at 350 degrees for 4-5 minutes. Stir together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the butter, sugars, vanilla, sour cream and mashed bananas and whisk to combine. The batter will not look smooth. Gently stir in the flour mixture, stirring only until combined. Avoid over mixing. Stir in the chopped, toasted walnuts.
Spray 4 small loaf pans with cooking spray and fill each half full with the batter. Place in a preheated oven at 350 degrees (I use convection bake at 325) and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. I use the touch test; with a bit of experience you can tell when it feels done. You could also use 2 regular sized loaf pans instead of the small ones, and add more baking time. Remove the loaves to a cooling rack. After five minutes, carefully remove them from the pans. Let bread cool completely before slicing. These loaves keep fabulously in the freezer.
*If you have extra ripe bananas, you can always peel them and throw them into a freezer ziplock bag and store them in the freezer. Thaw before using in this recipe. Frozen bananas are perfect in smoothies, giving them a thick, rich texture.
