A Couple Of Easy Banana Bread Recipes For You To Go Bananas Over

Banana bread is a cake-like, sweet bread, with mashed bananas being one of the main ingredients. This bread is quick and easy to make, with baking soda used as the leavening agent rather than yeast. And instead of dough, a thick batter is used to make the bread, which doesn't need the usual process of kneading. Usually, a rectangular pan is used to bake the banana bread.

It was in the 1930s, with the popularization of baking powder or baking soda, that banana bread recipes first found their way into American cookbooks. The simplicity of the recipe along with the revival of home baking in the 1960s led to a sudden surge in the popularity of banana bread. The recipe books of the 1960s added to the popularity of this bread by listing a number of its variations, with chocolate, nuts and fruits added into it. For example, the banana and chocolate or the banana and walnut are great variations of the basic banana bread.

So, every time you find you have a number of bananas ripening at the same time, why not mash them and make some of this delectable bread. Not only is it delicious, but it can also make a quick and nutritious breakfast, since it freezes well. You can slice up the bread and place each slice in a separate plastic bag and freeze them. So, whenever you happen to be in a rush in the morning, all you need to do is pop in a slice into the microwave, and... Voila!... There you have a yummy, warm slice infused with the aroma of heavenly banana.

So, here we go... here are a couple of easy banana recipes for you to go bananas over:

Cinnamon Flavored Walnut Banana Bread

3 cups of very ripe bananas, mashed

3 1/4 cups of flour, all-purpose

4 large eggs

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 1/3 cups of sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup of vegetable oil

1/4 cup of crème fraîche

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/3 cups of walnuts, toasted and chopped

Begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 9 by 5-inch loaf pans, then sprinkle some flour over it. Sift the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl. Beat the sugar and eggs in a bowl with an electric mixer set at medium-high speed for about 10 minutes or until the mixture forms peaks. Then, reducing the speed, add the oil slowly, while continuing to mix, then add in the mashed bananas, vanilla, and crème fraiche. Stop the mixer, and then fold in the flour mixture as well as the walnuts into it. Then put this batter into the two baking pans and bake for about an hour, or until the loaves turn golden brown.

Lemony Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

1 1/2 cups flour, all purpose

1 cup of ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 cup of chocolate chips, semisweet

2 large sized eggs

1/2 cup of unsalted butter

1 cup of sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp lemon juice, fresh

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan. Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a medium-sized bowl in order to blend them. Put the chocolate chips in another bowl and add one tablespoon of the flour mixture and toss it about in order to coat the chocolate. In a large bow, beat the butter until it becomes fluffy. Add the sugar in gradually while still beating until it is well blended. Blend the eggs in one at a time. Then, blend in the vanilla extract, lemon juice, and the mashed bananas. Blend in the flour mixture, and then spoon in 1/3 of the batter into the baking pan, and sprinkle in half of the chocolate chips. Then spoon in another 1/3 of the batter and sprinkle in the rest of the chocolate chips. Then put in the rest of the batter and run a knife through the batter in a zigzag pattern. Then put it in the oven and bake for about an hour.