"Dated" Brown Sugar Banana Bread

Oh that was bad - but it got your attention - right??!!??

I had planned to make a  new recipe for banana bread today, but I never thought about how important it was to have that cup of coffee first.  Lesson learned - I hope.

I was measuring my dry ingredients and needed 3/8 cup.  No problem. I knew I had a 1/8 cup measure and a 1/4 cup so I was good.  The math worked fine.    Where I failed was in reaching for the measuring cups without checking.  I thought I had the right sizes and moved right along - flour, brown sugar blend, baking soda, salt, cinnamon. I was whisking away and was about to go to the next step when that delayed sip of coffee aka caffeine shot kicked in.  I looked at the measuring cups and literally said out loud "OH NO!!"  My dogs looked at me like I was telling them that they were not going to get breakfast!!
But no -- the gasp was not meant for them.  I realized that I had pulled out a 1/4 cup measure AND a 1/3 cup measure!!  I might have been able to fudge a little had I just used the 1/3 cup - but no - I used both and knew that it was way too much sugar for the recipe.  So that bowl of flour mixture went straight into the trash .  I gulped a few more swigs of coffee and proceeded to remeasure and get the correct amounts into the bowl!!  Good grief!

So what was I making??  Here is the recipe, thanks to another blogger and a great cookbook.  Used a bit of inspiration from both!   And the second time around it turned out perfect!!!

Brown Sugar Banana Bread with Dates!

adapted from Cookies and Cups and  The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook

2 cups flour

3/8 cup Splenda brown sugar baking blend

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. baking spice (Penzey's Spices)

1/4 c. chopped dates

1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (4 small)

1/4 cup Greek yogurt (I used Trader Joe's vanilla bean)

2 eggs

6 Tbsp. butter, melted

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a 9x5 loaf pan with cooking spray (I use EverBake from King Arthur Flour - love it and it never fails me!).  Set aside....

In a medium mixing bowl, mix together flour, brown sugar blend, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and baking spice.  Mix in the chopped dates. Whisk til well combined

In a separate large bowl, mash 4 small bananas (that is what it took for me to get 1 1/2 cups -).  Add yogurt (can substitute with sour cream), eggs, melted butter and vanilla.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and combine until just blended.

Pour into the prepared loaf pan.  OPTIONAL:  Sprinkle several tablespoons of the brown sugar blend over the top of the batter. It will form a nice crust as it bakes..

Bake for 45- 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then remove from the pan after running a knife around the edges to loosen.

Cool completely on a wire rack.

So when you forget to take a picture before it goes in the oven......

Oh I wish you could smell this...

It was SO hard to wait for this to cool!

Look at that crunch brown sugar topping!!!  So Yummy!

Tried a new spotlight feature on this picture - highlights all of the moist ingredients.

A closeup of the bananas and dated scattered throughout!

Ready to eat?  Breakfast anyone?

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Mom's Banana Bread!

Yes...   I have been on a banana kick.  I get in a rut and it takes me a few dishes to get out of it!! Plus it's what I happen to have available in the kitchen and I have not been paying attention to my bananas recently, so they tend to get overripe before I can put them in a fruit salad or do anything else!! (and I do have a supply of frozen bananas in the freezer for smoothies - YUM!!)

So.......I have been seeing a lot of banana recipes on food blogs the past few weeks, and there is none better than this recipe of my Mom's.  The grated orange rind gives it a wonderful fresh taste, and I love the addition of the chopped dates. They end up so moist and sweet and are a wonderful surprise texture in the bread.  My mouth is watering while I am typing this!!  I leave the walnuts out as I am not a big chopped nut fan in quick breads, but by all means add them if you like them!

And don't forget that awesome topping.  The buttery cinnamon sugar crust that is created on the still slightly warm bread adds another flavor level.  Wow!  You can also just brush melted butter over the top and sprinkle a cinnamon-sugar mixture over the top if you forget to have the topping ready to go.  Yes that has been my emergency fix on many occasions!!  And you can leave it plain as well - this bread stands on its own just fine!

MOM'S BANANA BREAD RECIPE

BATTER:

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup dates, chopped
4 very ripe banana
zest of one orange
3/4 cup chopped walnuts, optional

TOPPING:

1 tbsp. butter, melted
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon

Cream butter well and add sugar gradually.  Add eggs, one at a time and mix well.

Sift dry ingredients and blend into creamed mixtured.  Add 4 mashed bananas, 3/4 c. chopped nuts (if desired), rind of 1 orange and dates.

Grease and flour a bread pan.  Bake at 350 degrees  for 50-60 minutes.  Leave in the pan for 10 minutes.

After removing from the pan and while the bread is still warm, spread the topping mixture over the top and let cool.  (Mom says wait 48 hours before cutting ).

God bless her - I am lucky if I can wait 1 hour!!  But on the rare occasion that I have waited 48 hours, the flavors are at their peak!

And this time I really waited...... but look who else was waiting......

Here is a great photo of the bread...... but see that out of focus blur in the background???

Amazing what you can see when you shift the focus on the camera!!!  

That is Roxy ready for her own piece of banana bread.  She is still waiting!!!

 This is truly the BEST banana bread ever!

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