Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Problem: a bunch of overly ripe bananas languishing on the kitchen counter. Hate to waste them!
Solution: Healthy banana bread. Voila, instant yum!
A very good recipe from breadtopia.com. The whole wheat gives it a nutritional kick that helps justify eating more than one slice at a time. I made two loaves: one with choc chips and NO NUTS for Kelly, and one with walnuts for the rest of us. The choc chip version is getting eaten a lot faster. Hmm, maybe she’s on to something.
– Terry, Jan. 2013

Ingredients

• ½ cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) unsalted butter
• ½ cup packed light or dark brown sugar
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1½ cups (~12 ounces) mashed very ripe bananas (3-4 medium to large bananas)
• ¼ cup honey (or sugar)
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (8 ounces) whole wheat flour, traditional or white whole wheat
• ½ cup (2 ounces) chopped walnut, optional
• ½ cup chocolate chips, optional (but delicious)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.
2. Beat together the butter, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth.
3. Add the banana, honey and eggs, beating until smooth. Add the flour and nuts, stirring until smooth.
4. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and let it rest at room temperature, uncovered for 10 minutes.
5. Bake the bread for 50 minutes. Lay a piece of foil gently across the top and bake until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 10 to 15 minutes more.
6. Remove the bread from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes before turning it out of the pan onto a rack to cool completely.

1 loave