Jan 22, 2011

ugly banana bread

i don't think banana bread ever really looks that appetizing. it's usually a light brown color with little brown specks (from the middle of part of ripened bananas) and sometimes studded with toasted walnuts, also brown. but holy heck, when it's baking, does your kitchen smell good!
i actually took the time to make banana bread today. already, and it's only 11:30am. it was mostly a procrastination strategy against working on the accounting case problem on activity-based costing. and since i don't want to "waste" time by just sitting on the couch, i made the world's ugliest banana bread (so no pics, also b/c i don't really know where the camera is and even if i could find it, it probably doesn't have space for new pics and then i'd have to download the current content and blah blah blah).
my own personal ugly banana bread:
1 1/2 cups mashed banana (i only had 1 cup from two small bananas, and so had to use 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree, only adding to the ugly color thing)
3 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup white four
1/4 cup bran flakes or oatmeal or whatever you had on had to give this recipe a fiber boost
optional: 3 tbsp cocoa powder + extra tbsp milk (again, adds to the ugly color thing, but gives it a nice, not too powerful chocolaty taste)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
cinnamon and/or nutmeg

preheat oven to 375
dump everything into your lovely standmixer
turn on standmixer and let it do it's job (on low) for about 30 sec or until JUST combined.
banana bread is essentially a muffin - so don't overmix!!!
at this point, you can stir in toasted walnuts or chocolate chips. i chose chocolate chips. you should put in about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of whatever you choose. me, on the other hand, as a busy graduate student, have not bought chocolate chips in a while and had only about 1/3 cup left to mix in. totally not enough.
pour mixture into pre-greased loaf pan.
takes about 40-45 min in the oven, but do a toothpick check at 40 min.
after it comes out of the oven, wait a good 10 minutes before diving in.
10 minutes . . . make some coffee (not only does it go wonderfully with banana bread, but it will ensure i can power through the accounting case AND the operations case)
cut a piece of banana bread and shove in mouth.
cut another piece, slather with nutella, and shove in mouth.
contemplate going to gym and putting off homework . . .