Note to self: This recipe was inspired by Hend. She absolutely LOVES banana bread…and when I say loves, like die hard obsessed with it. When we were talking over the phone she was telling me how sad she was that it always came out dry and crumbly. I made it my mission to experiment and find out the best way to make a moist, delicious banana bread which is also super easy and simple….And lo and behold did I! This bread was so delicious and not in the least bit dry. Surprisingly even though it has about a cup of sugar in it it’s not overpoweringly sweet. If you want a more sweeter bread you can add an additional ¼-½ cup of sugar. I opted to have crumb coat topping that you similarly see in most coffee cakes because lets face it, who doesn’t live for that yumminess?! If you want you can also add some shredded zucchini to hide some veggies for the little ones without them knowing that it’s in there. I would say about ½-1 cup of shredded zucchini would work and it would bring in even more moisture to the bread while adding some health factor to it.
The key to this recipe is to have ripe bananas on hand. The spottier and browner they are the better the recipe will be. Ripened bananas are more sweet and tend to work better than yellow bananas. I also found that buttermilk will bring a creaminess to the batter though it’s not needed. You can totally substitute regular milk or maybe even almond milk if you don’t have any buttermilk on hand.
Definitely give this recipe a shot and you won’t regret it!
Ingredients:
Banana Bread:
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 1¼ cups sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 beaten eggs
- 2 cups flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 heaping tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- pinch of all spice
- 3 ripe bananas
- ¼ cup buttermilk (milk can be substituted)
-
¾ cup chopped pecans (optional, you can also use walnuts or chocolate chips)
Crumb Topping:
- ¾ cup flour
- ½ cup melted butter brought to room temperature
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¾ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp powdered sugar
Directions:
Banana Bread:
- In a large bowl cream ½ cup softened room temperature butter and 1¼ cups sugar with a hand blender or stand mixer.
- Add 1 tsp vanilla extract, 2 beaten eggs and mix until well combined.
- In a separate medium bowl add 2 cups of flour, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp baking soda, ½ tsp nutmeg, and a pinch of all spice. Using a whisk, mix all the ingredients together.
- In a separate bowl, mash 3 ripe bananas with a fork.
- To the bananas add ¼ cup buttermilk and mix well and set aside.
- To the butter sugar egg mixture you want to slowly start adding the dry ingredients and banana. (Alternate) Start with ½ cup dry ingredients, mix, then add about ½ cup of the banana/milk mixture, mix and so on until both are done.
- Gently fold in ¾ cup of chopped pecans.
- Spray a loaf pan with pam or use butter to coat the bottom of the pan. (optional: You can also spread a piece of parchment paper along the bottom and over the sides to make sure it doesn’t stick and to lift the bread out easier)
- Pour the batter into the loaf pan.
- Pre heat the oven at 350 degrees.
Crumb topping:
- In a medium bowl whisk together ¾ cup flour, ½ cup brown sugar, ¾ tsp ground cinnamon until well combined
- Slowly add melted butter a tbsp at a time and mix with a fork until a crumb like mixture forms.
- Spread crumbs over the top of the banana bread and place into the oven at 350 degrees for about an hour. (If the crumb topping starts to become hard you can cover the bread lightly with foil after 30 minutes) Check the banana bread with a toothpick and if it comes out clean then it’s ready.
- Using a fine wire mesh strainer sift 1 tsp of powdered sugar over the top of the banana bread.
Serving size: 1 loaf
