BROWN SUGAR BANANA BREAD

As you all well know, the last thing I need is another cookbook, but this one, I swear to you, beckoned to me.  It had all of the elements that make up the type of book I want: based in the South (we all know what great cooks those Southern women are), a color picture to represent every recipe, and the recipes are from a BAKERY in Savannah.  Yes, a bakery!  Do you understand my need for having this one?  I thought you would.  It’s called The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook, and it will leave you drooling. When I first picked it up and started flipping through it I told myself that I’d get it from the library and write out the recipes that I wanted to try.  Twenty seven recipes later I figured it would save me a lot of time just to buy it.  Clearly it will get a lot of use.

Today, eyeing bananas about to go bad, I decided to give a recipe a test run with this Brown Sugar Banana Bread.  I am very picky about my banana bread, so figured this would be the real test of a good cookbook.  It was delicious.  Easy to make, very moist, and the brown sugar does amazing things to this loaf that white sugar just could not do.  I varied the recipe a bit in that while I mashed two of the bananas, I diced the third.  I like chunks of banana in my banana bread and this was a real winning combination.

BROWN SUGAR BANANA BREAD

From The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook

Yields One (1) 9-inch loaf

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4 cup light brown sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon ground mace

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1¼ cups pecans, toasted then chopped

1 ½ cups well-mashed, ripe bananas (about 3 medium sized)

¼ cup sour cream

2 large eggs

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 teaspoon of vanilla

2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar

Lightly grease a 9” x 5” loaf pan vegetable oil spray. Line the bottom with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, mace, cinnamon and pecans. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix together the mashed bananas, sour cream, eggs, butter, and vanilla with a wooden spoon.

Fold the banana mixture into the flour mix until just combined.

Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan, spreading evenly across the top.  Sprinkle the two tablespoons of dark brown sugar over the top.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until loaf is golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool loaf in its pan for 5 to 10 minutes; then transfer to a wire rack.

Stay tuned for more recipes from this wonderful book.  The hardest part is going to be trying to decide which one to make next.

This post is linked to:

Foodie Friday

Sweets for a Saturday