© 2022 Rachel L. Shumate | All rights reserved.
A word of caution… The following recipe will produce the best banana bread you’ve probably ever tasted. So, don’t blame me if you get hooked on it and want to eat it every morning and pretend that, since it has the word ‘banana’ in the name, it’s a healthy breakfast choice. Or maybe I’m alone in this unhealthy, but yummy, skewed reasoning…?
While my mom has mad cooking skills, this recipe is actually courtesy of my dad. It’s one of his regular kitchen contributions (aside from being Mom’s sous chef), and it’s amazing. In fact, whenever I visit my parents, I’m always excited when they send me home with a generous piece of banana bread as a delicious parting gift. Although now I have to split it with Olivia, who caught on that it was tastier than it looked. I think I’m going to stop asking her to try new foods because I inevitably wind up having to share with her, haha.
Dad has graciously allowed me to share his recipe, which you will find below. And if you decide to make some, I’d be more than happy to volunteer as taste-tester to make sure you got it right. 😉
Ingredients:
- 1 big ripe banana, or 1 ½ regular ripe bananas, well mashed
- 1 egg, well beaten
- 1 individual-serving container’s worth of Mott’s Cinnamon Applesauce (this is about ½ cup)
- ¼ cup canola oil
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup flour
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- ½ cup Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet chocolate chips
Topping Ingredients:
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon of chopped pecans
Directions:
Grease a loaf pan. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the wet ingredients in sequence, then stir in the dry ingredients, also mixing in sequence. Make the topping by stirring its ingredients together. Pour the batter into the loaf pan, then sprinkle the topping liberally over the top. Bake for about 55 minutes in a glass loaf pan, or about an hour in a metal one.
Loaf is done when a knife inserted into it comes out clean with no dough sticking to it; don’t worry about pieces of the topping that might adhere.
