banana bread

i always buy bananas with the best intentions of eating them in many different ways. on grainy toast with honey, cut up on cereal, in a smoothie.....but they always end up overripe before i know it and i have to bake something with them! (what a shame, hehe)

i am still trying to find that banana bread recipe that i can use over and over again, that doesn't have half a million different ingredients or fancy ways to make it. sometimes if a recipe is more than a page long i won't bother with it, unless i really like what it has to offer! i came across this recipe from Lovin' From the Oven and it sounded and looked SO good!

as you can see it turned out delicious! i split it into two tins so that it would be easy to cut and fit into hubby's lunch box. (he hates it when i call it that =P)

i made it as the recipe stated, with one extra banana and cinnamon on top instead of swirled in. i can't help myself. i can't just make a recipe as it is! i always have to add more filling or flavour items than stated. theres nothing wrong with abundance and there is nothing worse than biting into something and hardly seeing or tasting it after all the work!

Cinnamon Topped Banana Bread - the recipe as i made it =)

For the bread:

• 4 over-ripe bananas, smashed up
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking soda
• dash of salt
• 1 3/4 cups flour

For the topping:

• 1/4 cup sugar & brown sugar mix
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Butter and flour a loaf pan, i lined mine with parchment paper also, better to be safe than sorry! I used two 8.5" x 4.5". For the normal sized loaf use one. Just keep a close eye on it in the oven, and adjust the time as needed.

2. Mix bananas, butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla together. Sprinkle baking soda and salt around on top of the banana mixture. Then gently stir in flour. Be careful not to over-mix!

3. In a small dish, mix together the 1/4 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp cinnamon.

4. Add the batter to the loaf pan and then sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture all over the top of the batter in the pan.

5. Bake for 50-60 minutes, but remember, if you’re using a different-sized loaf pan, be careful and keep a close eye on it! For my two tins of half batter it took 35-40 minutes to be beautifully done, with a lovely cinnamon crunch top =)


.....and, it's gone. Thankyou Lovin' From the Oven! I think this is my new banana bread favourite!