Last week I spent some time staring at overripe bananas.
Not these exact bananas. These bananas are actors. This is a re-enactment of the overripe bananas that kept giving me the stink eye early last week, waiting to see what I was going to with them.
(This also means that I’m still staring at overripe bananas.)
I didn’t feel like adding these to the existing frozen banana stash I’ve got going in the freezer, so I opted to turn overripe bananas into banana bread instead of a pureed, cold treat like banana whip or a chocolate banana smoothie.
There’s nothing overly special about this banana bread, but I did sub coconut oil for butter (optional) and used less sugar. I didn’t want to get fancy, I didn’t want to re-invent the wheel, I just wanted banana bread, plain and simple. Feel free to add 1/4 c of walnuts or pecans, skip them if you’re feeding kids who won’t eat bake goods with nuts in them.
Kids can be nuts like that.
I went digging around the interwebs to find a couple of banana bread recipes and then patched together my own. I knew from making pumpkin muffins a couple weeks ago that I could get away with a 1/2 c of sugar (as opposed to 1 cup, which most recipes called for) and wanted to use coconut oil instead of butter or canola oil. I conquered both of these goals with good results!
Simply Banana Bread (with less sugar and coconut oil)
1/4 c coconut oil, melted (or softened butter)
1/2 c sugar
2 – 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 egg, beaten
2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
dash of cinnamon
pinch of salt (if using unsalted butter or coconut oil)
1/4 c milk (if necessary, my batter was very thick!)
Preheat oven to 375. Combine coconut oil (or butter) with sugar. Stir in beaten egg and mashed bananas. Sift or whisk together dry ingredients, slowly add to wet ingredients and pour into bread pan or muffin tins. (Lightly oiled.)
Bake muffins for 22 – 24 minutes, bread will take closer to 35 minutes.
I used a 1/3 c measure to scoop batter into muffin tins, this made 9 muffins.
The nutritional run down:
I made these dark and early one morning while everyone was still snoozing, they were ready just in time for breakfast. Served with a side of Yahtzee, our favorite new thing to do at the kitchen table.
This is not a re-enactment.
Did you know that Yahtzee is a fantastic way to help your kids get faster with some basic addition and multiplication? Wanting to know if your score beats your mom’s, sister’s or dad’s score is quite the motivator.
We’ve been enjoying these for the past few days, I had one with some almond butter this morning about an hour before I set out for a run.
If I run first thing in the morning, I typically go on an empty stomach. I didn’t leave today until after 11, this turned out to be the perfect fuel for a leisurely Sunday morning run (in the snow!)
I’ve got two overripe bananas that are telling me I’ll be re-enacting these muffins again very soon.
Ice cream scoops work well for measuring out for muffins too.
Ahh, I like it!
Oh yes, those look amazing. But my monkeys ate my last two overripe bananas this afternoon so we’ll have to wait a week or so.
And you are brave with that whole Yahtzee thing. We play together on one score sheet instead of against each other. It’s much more peaceful that way. Kumbayah my Lord….kumbayah….
I love this one score sheet idea! This will be the perfect way to play with Maxine who is a little young for Yahtzee still, thank you for this!
I have to tell you the kids and I made this recipe last night and it’s fantastic!!! You can really taste the banana but they are not overly sweet. The kids loved them, too, which is a plus and super easy to make.
Thanks so much for sharing.
YAY Jennifer, thanks for reporting back! I’m so glad they turned out well for you.
I just made these muffins for a meeting at work tomorrow. They are so good, thanks! I hope the batch makes to the meeting …
Thanks Sarah, muffins at meetings are a must!
Just made these for my mom – trying to get more coconut oil into her diet. Loved that I had everything I need on hand for these. Thanks!
These were Amazing! Replaced the white sugar with brown sugar & I used red bananas (smaller, sweeter, starched) and they turned out wonderful. Thank you so much!
I just made a round loaf, (2nd time) using raw organic honey instead of sugar and I added pure vanilla. This is the best banana bread I’ve ever made. My husband loves it too!!
Awesome, Diane!