Whole Grain Banana Bread

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2011
Whole Grain Banana Bread
Our Sunday's are usually quite busy. In a sense, they start with the night
before. I usually have my four year old grandgirl on Saturday night (or she
is forced to tolerate her three year old brother tagging along:) and it is
the time I get things ready for the kids' Sunday School I teach and
Children's church. Sometimes, we visit family or friends or we just hang
around the house and prepare for the week ahead.
Yesterday, I didn't have my grandlittles the night before or for church so
after we talked to some of the church members and rounded everyone up, we
stopped by our oldest son's house to visit their family. They live between
our house and the church so a quick visit is easy to fit in.
We were blessed with an unplanned lunch and a very enjoyable time of
sharing. We ate deli turkey and cheese sandwiches and salt and vinegar
chips. When we got back home, the teen girls --- our 14 year old niece was
here --- watched a movie and our youngest son played games on his dad's
computer. My husband rested and went to work and I got some laundry done,
did some dishes and tidied up the kitchen a bit. Before we knew it, dinner
time was upon us. We ended up having turkey burgers from ground breast meat
and topped them with jalapenos and extra sharp cheddar cheese. Our daughter
made a big and delicious salad and she and her cousin ate veggie burgers.
Right before dinner, I made a whole grain banana walnut bread and put it in
the oven. It filled the entire kitchen with such a wonderful fragrance! I
made two loaves and wrapped one in wax paper and took as a gift for Nana,
Papa, the twins and anyone else there. They loved it (especially Papa!) and
everyone here loved it so I thought I would break from my posting freeze
from the frenzy and share it:
A quick note about the site I found this on - there is an email newsletter
available and I think maybe an RSS feed. I signed up for the email, I think
it was. Anyway, here is the recipe:
Whole Grain Banana Bread
Ingredients:
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup packed natural brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup mashed over-ripe bananas
• 1 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips, preferably 60% cocoa
Preparation:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan with butter.
3. Combine flour, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Whisk and set aside.
4. In another large bowl, combine butter, honey, and sugar and beat for two
minutes. Add the eggs and lightly beat until just combined. Mix in bananas
and vanilla -- do not over mix. Gradually beat in the flour mixture in
thirds.
5. Dilute baking soda in ¼ cup hot (not boiling) water, then beat into
batter.
6. Stir in, by hand, the chocolate chips and chopped nuts.
7. Pour the batter into the pan and bake at 325 for 52 minutes. (test for
doneness being careful not to over bake as it may dry out the bread)
8. Remove from pan and place on a wire rack to cool. If you plan to serve
this to guests and want clean slices, then allow it to cool for 30 minutes.
If you want to enjoy some melt-in-your-mouth, out-of-this-world, warm banana
bread, then dig in after 5 minutes.
http://www.wholegraingourmet.com/recipes/40-bread/32-whole-grain-banana-brea
d.html