Banana Bread

You have leftover bananas...
Make banana bread, of course!

Friends and the readers of this blog know how much I love to make loaf breads.  Pumpkin is my go-to, but occasionally I have a pile of overripe bananas laying about, and naturally my mind goes to making banana bread out of them.

I have made countless banana bread recipes over the years, and this recipe is a combination of various tricks and tips I have discovered.   I've added some different ingredients this time around, including: coconut sugar, chia seeds, and a little bourbon.

And I always rely on a technique I picked up from a recipe by Tyler Florence.  He takes half of his bananas, and whips them up with sugar until they are nice and fluffy. Then he adds the other bananas (mashed) to the batter.  This way, you have all that moisture and banana flavor, but you still get delicious little chunks of fruit.  If you can't stand chunks of banana in your banana bread, then just mash your bananas super well before adding them to the batter.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this recipe. It has huge banana flavor without being too sweet, and it is also incredibly moist.  I might add butter next time, I might use some brown sugar instead of coconut sugar, I might add one less egg, I might add cinnamon or clove (see notes at the bottom of the recipe). There's tons of room to play around. This is a very forgiving recipe.

Enjoy!

Super Moist Banana Bread with Chia Seeds
Makes 1 9x5 loaf

Ingredients
1 3/4 all purpose flour*
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs*
1 cup coconut sugar*
1/4 cup granulated sugar*
5 super ripe bananas, 4 for the batter, 1 for garnish
3/4 cup vegetable or safflower oil*
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon bourbon (optional)
1 tablespoon chia seeds (optional)*


Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9 x 5 loaf pan (I used coconut oil spray or you could just grease it with butter).

Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

Roughly mash 2 of the bananas in a bowl, and set aside.  I like to keep these bananas super chunky, if you don't like banana chunks, mash these guys really well.

With an electric mixer fitted with a whisk, or with a stand mixer, whip 2 of the bananas with both sugars.  Whip for 3 minutes, until you have a fluffy light banana cream.  Coconut sugar makes this a little less fluffy than regular granulated sugar.  If you don't feel like whipping, just use a whisk to thoroughly combine the sugar and bananas.

Add the oil, eggs, vanilla and bourbon to the sugar mixture and mix well with a whisk.

Mix in the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Be careful not to over mix.  Blend until the flour is just incorporated.

Fold in the mashed bananas and chia seeds.

Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan.  Garnish the top of the loaf with thin slices of banana. Next time I'd probably just scatter a few slices.  When it baked, the sides came out just slightly funny looking, but still delicious.

Bake the banana bread for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a cake tester (or skewer) comes out clean when you test the center.

Cool the bread in the pan for 10 minutes, and then remove the loaf from the pan and let it cool on a wire rack.

Slice it up and serve!


*Notes
-Could sub AP flour with some whole wheat flour 
-Eggs could be reduced down to 2
-Coconut sugar can be replaced with 1 cup granulated sugar - I like the flavor of the coconut sugar, but I don't think it's essential. It is now available at lot's of grocery stores, including Trader Joe's
-1/4 cup granulated sugar could be substituted with light brown sugar for a more molasses flavor, especially if you skip the coconut sugar
-3/4 cup oil could be substituted with 3/4 cup of unsalted butter, melted
- I love chia seeds in baked goods, usually they add a nice texture.  They were barely detectable in this, but they may have contributed to the overall moisture.  You could definitely skip this ingredient.