Whole Wheat Banana Bread

I have a confession to make. I hoard brown bananas. Yep, that's right. Out of every 10 bunches of bananas my family buys, I usually put 10 bananas in the freezer for baking. No joke. I wish I had taken a picture of the bowl of rotten bananas that I pulled out of my freezer before baking this bread! Hindsight and all that. Just trust me on this...I pulled at least 20 nasty looking bananas out of my freezer and did a little happy dance the other night. It's ok. I'm weird and I know it. But really, nothing makes me happier some days than one of those guys. The browner and squishier (is that even a word?) the better!

When they start to look like this...

Source

...I put them in the freezer, they turn to this...

Source

...and I turn them into this...

Whole Wheat Loaf ready to be shipped to a friend!

Slices of the loaf that my family got to eat! :)

I love banana bread! It's one of my favorite comfort foods and one of my favorite ways to enjoy it is with some peanut butter spread on a warm slice. Yum! I have tried several different recipes and, while I've found several that I like, this one is my favorite because, one,  it's moist and, two, the ingredients are a little healthier than other versions so I don't feel quite as bad if I eat half a loaf. Not that I would, of course! :)

Whole Wheat Banana Bread (adapted from here)

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3-4 medium bananas)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups whole wheat flour (can subsitute AP or use half and half)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional
• 1 cup chocolate chips, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease loaf pan(s).

Beat together butter, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt until smooth. Add in bananas, honey, and eggs and beat until smooth again. Mix in flour, one cup at a time, until smooth and add in optional ingredients. 

Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes to one hour (depending on oven), watching top for signs of burning. If you see that your top is getting done too fast, place a piece of aluminum foil on top of bread to slow it down. Once a tester inserted into center of loaf comes out clean, remove bread from oven and cool about 15 minutes before removing from pan.

Baker's tip:

Have you ever noticed that things taste different depending on temperature? The best time to taste test your baked goods is once they reach room temp. Now, I'm not saying that this is how I enjoy eating all baked goods! I definitely prefer my cookies a little warm. However, if you're wanting to know what your finished product actually tastes like (i.e. how well all the ingredients came together, do I need to add more banana to my recipe?, etc...), let it cool to room temp and taste it then. If you have perfected your recipes and know, for sure, that it's exactly the way you want it, then by all means, eat that cookie while it's still warm and gooey! The messier the better! 

However you like to enjoy your banana bread, give this recipe a try. It's a little nicer to the hips and, really, very tasty! Until next time, happy reading and more importantly, happy taste-testing cupcake-ing!