2.3.11 Banana Bread

When life gives you snow, thundersnow, more snow, and snow days, bake banana bread.  With white chocolate and chopped almonds.
This is the first post of the year, so happy new year!  I've gotten off to all sorts of rocky starts, but here's to hoping that this year will turn around.  After all, it is only the beginning of February.

So where I live, we got snow.  Not that we don't get snow usually, but this year was especially bad.  I'm not complaining though because snow always means that it's not that cold, or at least not as cold as it could get around here.  I am definitely dreading the time when all the snow starts to melt and this whole place becomes slush city...

I'd actually been planning to bake this banana bread recipe for a while.  I just hadn't gotten around to it until now because it requires FOUR bananas!  Usually, I only have a maximum of three black bananas around.  This time, though, I had some that I had frozen before, so I decided to use Tyler Florence's recipe.

Despite the spectacular reviews, I don't think this recipe is all that great.  Sarah said that the loaf is more cakey than usual and not as moist, and I agree.  It might be due to the fact that, for once, I used the correct loaf pan (our subletter had it).  Also, perhaps because of the long baking time, all of the white chocolate chips melted away into the loaf.  Yes it does taste strongly of banana, but I'd rather have moist, chocolate-y banana bread than this one.

I did get nice pictures though!  I got a new camera from my aunt, so maybe I can stop taking 100 pictures of one baked good from now on.

2 cups AP flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

4 bananas (2 mashed with fork, 2 whipped)

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, MELTED and cooled

2 large eggs

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup pecans almonds, finely chopped

1/2 cup white chocolate chips*

*the chocolate chips may melt away.

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF, lightly grease 9-inx5-in loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt.

3. Mash 2 bananas with a fork in a small bowl so they still have texture.  With an electric hand mixer fitted with a wire whisk, whip the remaining bananas and sugar together for a good 3 minutes; you want a light and fluffy banana cream.  Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla; beat well and scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated; no need to overly blend.  Fold in the nuts, white chocolate chips, and the mashed bananas with a rubber spatula.  Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.  Give the pan a good rap on the counter to get any air bubbles out.

4. Bake for about 1hr 15 min, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

recipe by Tyler Florence, from foodnetwork.com