I am a fan of banana bread and pumpkin bread. They are almost both impossible to screw up. I have a version that takes sour cream, and a few years ago I found a version that has a crunchier top crust. That has become my favorite because there is a nice juxtaposition of crunchy top with soft insides.
I could hardly wait for this new version to come out of the oven. The smell of cinnamon sugar was wafting through the house. Of course once it came out of the oven it had to cool and I was pooped and ready for bed. I cannot take the credit for this random recipe. It was all Chris. I was working late and he graciously went into the kitchen to make it. Although I guess it is a win-win for him because he gets to enjoy such an amazing loaf of bread.
I would never have thought to put bananas, blueberries, and cinnamon sugar together. It works though.
CINNAMON SUGAR BLUEBERRY BANANA BREAD
Cook time: 45 minutes
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup granulated sugar, divided
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 overripe bananas
- 2 large eggs
- 7 tablespoons sour milk (make sour milk by adding 1 teaspoon vinegar to 6 1/2 tablespoons nonfat milk)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (if using frozen, be sure to remove any ice crystals)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a 9x5x3” loaf pan with butter and coat it with sugar. (You do this like you would grease and flour a pan. Grease it first, then add about 2 tablespoons sugar to the pan and move the pan side to side until the bottom and sides are coated with sugar. Do NOT substitute cooking spray for the butter. You can skip the sugaring and just use cooking spray, if you wish.)
- Cream butter and 3/4 cup sugar with a hand mixer. Set aside.
- Add bananas, eggs, milk, vanilla, and baking soda to a blender jar and blend until smooth.
- Pour half the banana mixture into the butter mixture with 1 cup of flour. Mix with hand mixer until just incorporated, then add the remaining banana mixture and flour. Mix until just incorporated. Stir in blueberries. (Make sure that your frozen berries are not overly wet; pat them dry and/or remove any ice crystals or your batter will be too wet.) Pour into prepared pan.
- Combine 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Sprinkle evenly over the top of the batter.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes until a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs. The edges will be a dark brown and there will be a nice crack down the center.
- Cool completely before removing loaf from pan, but you can cut slices from the pan after it’s cooled for about 15-20 minutes.
random olio 