Sunday, September 21, 2008

What to Do with Lots of Ripe Bananas


I went to our neighborhood corner store, Sarah's Market, last night. It was 10 minutes until closing time, and there were a ton of over ripe bananas on the checkout counter. I made a joke to the owner that it looked like she was going to have to make a lot of banana bread. Well, she must have not wanted to make banana bread, because she laughed and then insisted I take the bananas. So guess who got to make lots of banana bread? Perfect excuse for me to procrastinate studying for my child psychology classes.

We got about 10 bananas that were already in danger of fruit flies getting to them so I wanted to make something fast. I've never liked to freeze bananas, even though that's what a lot of people do- something just changes in the consistency that I don't like. Since baked goods generally freeze well, I figured I could make a bunch of banana bread muffins and freeze them to use for several on-the-run breakfasts.

This is hands down the best banana bread recipe I have ever tried or had. I think the secret is in its simplicity. It takes less than 10 minutes to mix the ingredients together. The toughest part is just waiting for them to come out of the oven.

Here is the basic recipe, you can do lots of things with this and add your own fabulousness. I usually just make the basic recipe and add in a generous amount of mini chocolate chips (a combination I absolutely love) and bake in a loaf pan.

Basic Banana Bread Recipe:
  • 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
  • 1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • Generous pinch of salt
  • 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour


This time, I didn't have any chocolate chips, so I made two different variations with things I had on hand:

Banana Pumpkin Muffins
  • 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
  • 1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • Generous pinch of salt
  • 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup pumpkin butter (I got mine pre-made from Trader Joe's)
  • 3/4 cup pecans, chopped
Makes about 15 muffins
5 Weight Watchers Points




Chocolate Banana Muffins
  • 4 0r 5 ripe bananas, smashed
  • 1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • Generous pinch of salt
  • 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup cocoa powder
Makes about 12 muffins
6 Weight Watchers Points



Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Spray loaf pan or muffin tin with cooking spray. Mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl (I use a potato masher). Cream the rest of the ingredients together with the bananas. Pour into prepared loaf pan or muffin tin (use 1/3 cup batter per serving if using muffin tin) Bake 30 minutes for muffins, an hour for a loaf. Insert toothpick or knife, you will know its done when it comes out clean.

3 comments:

Larissa said...

Hey, fellow twentysomething cook! Those muffins look great.

Movie Maven said...

YUM! Those look delightful. If you do ever end up with SO MANY BANANAS that you have to freeze them, the thing to make with them is banana ice cream. Alton Brown has a great recipe.

I found you on 20-something bloggers...my blog isn't a food one, but I do like it!!

Anonymous said...

I've tried a couple banana bread recipes and none of them looked like or smelled like the real thing and they were a little more complicated. I have made this recipe twice within two weeks already and it's going to be a standard because of it's simplicity. It was also devoured in not time at all the first time I served it. Wahoo, finally a recipe that works.