Bananaza Bread {Foodie Friday}
Written by Grace Pennington of Fruitful
It’s pretty amazing how spotty, blackening, forgotten bananas still have a use. Can you think of another fruit that can make something taste so good when it’s gone bad?
I love the fact that when I buy a bunch of bananas, I won’t have to beat myself up when I forgot to eat them during the week. I won’t feel like I abandoned a beautiful fruit and wasted money.
I’ll just know that these bananas were meant for something greater!
This time, I used my aging bananas to make a loaf of Bananza Bread: banana bread with apricots and swirl of Nutella. I decided to spice up the old banana bread recipe with a different kind of nut flavor, hazelnuts, a sweet swirl of chocolate and a few bites of tangy apricot.
The bread turned out wonderfully. It’s super moist and has such a unique flavor. What goes together better than bananas and chocolate? And who can say no to Nutella bread?
I found this exciting spin on the classic banana bread to be a wonderful change.
It’s kind of amazing how a few mushy, rotten bananas turned into something with such complex flavor and sweetness.
And if you’re like me and have ever been frustrated when your banana bread gets too brown on the top and is still gooey inside, this recipe has a great tip for you!
Bananza Bread (Adapted from Recipe Girl)
Yield: 1 loaf (12 slices)
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed ripe banana
1/3 cup plain low fat yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ Nutella (chocolate-hazlenut spread)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 8×4-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
3. In a separate large bowl, beat sugar and butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, on at a time, beating well
after each addition. Add banana, yogurt and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture and apricots, beat at low speed just until flour is incorporated (don’t over mix).
4. Spoon Nutella into a medium dish and soften in the microwave for about 15 seconds. Add 1 cup of the banana bread batter to the Nutella and stir until blended well. Spoon Nutella batter alternately with plain banana bread batter into the prepared pan. Swirl batters together with a knife.
5. Bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Check the oven at 40 minutes to check the top of the bread for browning. If it’s browning too quickly, cover lightly with foil for the remainder of the baking. Cool for at least 15 minutes in the pan and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
