Sunday, August 10, 2014

Boston Banana Brown Bread

It's been really hot here the past week, which as you can imagine makes all the fruit ripen very fast, especially bananas!  So only 3 days after I got 6 very green bananas, they were to ripe to eat!  Whenever I have lots of over-ripe bananas, I always make banana bread, so I went flipping through my cookbooks to find the one I normally use.  While I was looking in my Secrets of Fat-Free Baking cookbook I found a recipe I had never used before called Boston Banana Brown Bread.   Usually I use the recipe for Busy Day Banana Bread from the same Secrets of Fat-Free Baking cookbook, but I thought I'd try the new Boston Banana Brown Bread recipe this time.

A single recipe of this bread makes either 2 trays of mini loaves, 2 trays of mini bunts, 1 tray of mini loaves and 1 tray of mini bunts, or 1 large bunt.  Since I had six bananas, I doubled the recipe.  This made 1 tray of mini loaves, 1 tray of mini bunts, and one large bunt.  If you make a double recipe you may want to freeze half of the bread (mini loaves freeze best).

The recipe called for corn meal, but I used flax meal instead, almond meal could also be good.  I also substituted the dates for figs and it was delicious.  I added the cinnamon, cherries, pecans, coconut, blueberries, and chocolate.  This recipe can easily be made gluten free by using gluten free flour.







2
Two cups flour (wheat or gluten free)
1 cup flax, almond, or corn meal
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cinnamon
3 large very ripe bananas
1 cup fat-free milk and ½ tsp lemon juice (or you can use ¾ cup 2% milk, ½ tsp lemon, and ¼ cup oil)
½ cup molasses
¾ cup chopped dried figs or dates
½ cup dried cherries
½ cup pecans
½ cup shredded coconut
⅛ cup dried blueberries (for sprinkling in the pan)
⅛ cup dark chocolate chips (for sprinkling in the pan)
Coconut Oil Spray from Trader Joe's



Mix together the milk and lemon juice, or use 1 cup buttermilk.

Measure out all the dry ingredients (flour, flax meal, baking soda, nutmeg, and cinnamon) into a 4 cup measuring cup.

Put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly.  I'm using my KitchenAid Mixer for this bread, but you can make it by hand if you need to.  If you are using a KitchenAid Mixer use the paddle attachment.

Peel the bananas, put them in a measuring cup or small bowl, and mash with a fork, potato masher, or hand blender.

Mix the molasses into the mashed bananas.


Add the banana/molasses mixture and milk to the dry ingredients.

Mix together all ingredients to form a thick batter.

Add the figs, cherries, pecans, and coconut.  Since I'm using my KitchenAid Mixer for this bread, the pecans get crushed while they are being mixed into the batter, but if you are making it by hand you may want to roughly chop them before you mix them in.

Mix in the fruit and nuts until they are fully incorporated into the batter.

Spray your pan(s) with Coconut Oil Spray from Trader Joe's, or another non-stick cooking spray.

Fill the pan(s) with batter, leaving room for rising.  Sprinkle with a light layer of dried blueberries and dark chocolate chips.

Bake the bread in a 300* oven for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool in its pan(s) for about 10 minutes.  Once the bread is almost cool, use a spatula to remove it from the pan(s) and transfer to a cooling rack.  If you take the bread out of the pan(s) before it is almost cooled, it will crumble, so don't be impatient!

This decadent bread can be eaten on its own for a snack, or served alongside fruit for a delicious dessert!

The china in these pictures is Royal Albert china that used to belong to my great grandmother.  My mom used to eat afternoon tea off of it when she visited her in Australia!






I  Got the recipe for this bread from the Secrets of Fat-Free Baking cookbook by Sandra Woodruff.  The recipe called for corn meal, I used flax meal instead.  I substituted lemon juice and milk for buttermilk, used figs instead of dates, and added the dried cherries, pecans, coconut, dried blueberries, and dark chocolate chips.

To see more of my pictures you can find me on Instagram at @audreygracephotography.

No comments:

Post a Comment