Best Banana Nut Bread Recipe Epicuriouscom Recipes

OUR FAVORITE BANANA BREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x5" loaf pan with butter and dust with flour, tapping out any excess.
• Combine banana, sour cream, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
• Using an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar on medium speed in another large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 1/2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time and beat on medium speed until fully combined, about 1 minute each. Add banana mixture and beat until just combined, about 30 seconds. Add dry ingredients in 2 batches, beating on low after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl if necessary, until fully incorporated, about 20 seconds per batch. Fold in walnuts. Transfer batter to prepared pan and smooth top with a spatula.
• Bake, rotating halfway through, until batter is set, top is dark golden brown and starting to crack, sides are starting to pull away from pan, and a tester inserted into center of bread comes out clean, 60-65 minutes. Cool in pan on a wire rack at least 15 minutes. Run a butter knife around perimeter of pan to loosen loaf, then tap pan gently on its side until loaf releases. Transfer to a cutting board or plate and let cool completely before slicing.

BANANA NUT BREAD

Steps:

• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9- by 5-inch loaf pan and line bottom of pan with wax paper or parchment, then grease paper.
• Mix together milk and lemon juice and let stand until milk curdles, about 1 minute.
• Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a bowl.
• Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until combined, then beat in bananas until combined. (Mixture will look curdled.)
• Add flour mixture to banana mixture alternately with milk, mixing at low speed just until batter is smooth. Stir in walnuts. Pour into loaf pan and bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of bread comes out clean, about 1 hour.
• Cool bread in pan on a rack 20 minutes, then invert bread onto rack. Remove paper and turn bread right side up on rack to cool completely.

BANANA BREAD

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan with softened butter.
• Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar in a large bowl.
• Mix together the melted butter and mashed bananas in a separate bowl. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until well combined. Stir this mixture into the dry ingredients just enough to combine everything. Gently fold in the nuts and coconut if you're using them.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until the bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out almost entirely clean. Cool the pan on a rack for 15 minutes, then carefully turn it upside down to release the loaf. Serve warm or at room temperature or wrap in plastic and keep at room temperature for a couple days.
• Variations:
• Honey Whole Grain Banana Bread: For a delicately sweet, nuttier bread, substitute 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour and 3/4 cup oat bran for the all-purpose flour. Reduce the sugar to 3/4 cup and whisk in 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Add 1/4 cup honey to the melted butter.
• Chocolate Banana Bread: Reduce the flour to 1 1/2 cups. Add 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder to the flour. Fold up to 1 cup chopped dark chocolate into the batter.
• Tropical Banana Bread: Brown sugar and a few choice add-ins transform basic banana bread into a tropical treat. Replace half the sugar with 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar. Fold 1/3 cup chopped dried pineapple, 1/3 cup shredded unsweetened coconut, and 1/3 cup chopped macadamia nuts into the batter.
• Orange Banana Bread: Whisk 2 tablespoons grated orange zest into the dry ingredients. Mix 1/4 cup fresh orange juice into the melted butter and bananas.
• Pumpkin Bread: Substitute 1 cup pumpkin purée for the bananas. Whisk 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ginger, and 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves into the dry ingredients.
• Peanut Butter Banana Bread: Add 1/3 cup peanut butter to the bananas. Cut the butter down to 5 tablespoons.
• Apricot Cream Cheese Bread: The soft tang of cream cheese is a wonderful flavor and texture enhancer for quick breads. Replace the bananas with 1/2 cup apricot purée (soak 1/2 cup dried apricots in boiling water for 10 minutes and drain, reserving 2 tablespoons soaking water, and then purée). Reduce the butter to 3 tablespoons. In a separate bowl, beat 1/4 cup (2 ounces) cream cheese with the eggs, vanilla, and sugar until well combined. Stir the apricot purée and butter mixture into the cream cheese mixture, then add the dry ingredients.

AUNT HOLLY'S BANANA BREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Mash the bananas in a bowl. Add all the remaining ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon. Bake in a buttered loaf pan until a toothpick stuck into the bread comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes. Slice and serve.

BANANA BREAD WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPS AND WALNUTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 9x5x2 1/2-inch metal loaf pan. Whisk first 4 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Combine chocolate chips and walnuts in small bowl; add 1 tablespoon flour mixture and toss to coat.
• Beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, beating until well blended. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Beat in mashed bananas, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Beat in flour mixture. Spoon 1/3 of batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with half of nut mixture. Spoon 1/3 of batter over. Sprinkle with remaining nut mixture. Cover with remaining batter. Run knife through batter in zigzag pattern.
• Bake bread until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 5 minutes. Turn out onto rack and cool.

BANANA BANANA NUT BREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300°.
• Grease two 9 x 5 loaf pans.
• Cream butter and sugar well.
• Add buttermilk, eggs and vanilla and mix well.
• Add instant pudding, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon, mixing well.
• Slowly add flour, one cup at a time, until well mixed.
• Peel bananas, mash and add to mixture.
• Add pecans and mix until blended.
• Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

BANANA NUT BREAD

Steps:

• Sift together flour and baking soda. Blend oil and honey until nearly smooth in main mixing bowl. Beat in eggs. Add sifted ingredients in three parts alternately with banana pulp beating until smooth after each addition. Fold in chopped nuts. Place in greased loaf pan (I use two loaf pans rather than one). Bake at 350 for about 30 - 40 minutes. Bake until toothpick or cake tester when inserted in center comes out dry. Cool five minutes before removing from pan.

COCONUT AND MACADAMIA NUT BANANA BREAD

Steps:

• Into a bowl sift together the flour, the baking powder, the baking soda, and the salt. In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream the butter with the sugars until the mixture is light and fluffy and beat in the vanilla, the eggs, 1 at at time, the zest, the banana, and the sour cream. Add the flour mixture, beat the batter until it is just combined, and stir in the macadamia nuts and the coconut. Divide the batter among 5 well-buttered and floured 5 3/4- by 3 1/4-inch loaf pans and bake the breads in the middle of a preheated 350°F. oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Remove the breads from the pans and let them cool, right sides up, on a rack.