Banana Bread and Snow

Today in our little part of the world it snowed (!!!!) which is a BIG deal--not because we never get snow, but because we usually ALWAYS have lots of snow by now and we've had very little this winter.

So naturally, my little boys and I declared it a SNOW DAY and stayed in our jammies all morning and baked until our house smelled warm and cozy. Luke, who is 4, helped me pick out a banana bread recipe and pour in all of the ingredients. He thought it was positively "magic" when the flour disappeared into the batter. My little helper not only rinsed all of the dishes with me afterward, but he was the first taste-tester of our finished product. He approved and told me that next time he wants to make the bread with bananas, apples, and blueberries. Sounds good, buddy.

This banana bread recipe is listed on food network.com and turned out nice and moist on the inside with a bit of crunch to the crust--just how I like it. The thing that drew me to this recipe was the cinnamon, but then I realized I didn't have any cinnamon! I found some sort of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg blend (it smelled divine!) that I had probably stored from the holidays and used a teaspoon of it. I cut the sugar by half and added some applesauce. You could probably cut out even more if you like. Also, because I added applesauce, I melted the butter a bit so it would mix better without any clumps and used white-wheat flour instead of all-purpose. 

If you happen to have a SNOW DAY or any kind of day really, I recommend you make this bread. And eat it warm. With lots of cream cheese or butter on hand.

Banana Bread

1/2 cup granulated sugar + 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 large eggs

3 ripe bananas
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups  whole white wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt 

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.

Cream the sugar, applesauce, and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Mix in the milk and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove bread from pan, invert onto rack and cool completely before slicing.