Homemade on Long Island: Organic Bananas Foster Banana Bread

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Organic Bananas Foster Banana Bread

I love to make banana bread because I always have left over bananas. My trick with bananas for banana bread is to keep them in the freezer. When I have ripe bananas at the end of the week, I place it (peel and all) into the freezer. When I have enough in the freezer to make bread, I pull them out, place them on a plate and let them thaw. They will give off a lot of liquid and will come out very soft - which is perfect for bread. The banana peel will turn black, but it is OK, don't worry.

This month's Cooking Light Magazine had some great recipes for banana bread. I decided to try them out to see how they were. I used all organic ingredients to make them with the exception of the rum. All of the ingredients can be found at Whole Foods. The ground fax seed can be found in the area with the vitamins. I used flax seed meal, located in the baking aisle. It is the same product and it costs less. This recipe can be made conventionally, however, I like to take regular recipes and make them organically to show you that eating organically can be as easy as adapting your favorite recipes.

I have made this bread in a small loaf pan and made 3 loaves out of one. If you do this, reduce the baking time to one hour. Also, cut the loaf into 10 slices and you have a slice for under 110 calories.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana
1 cup packed brown sugar, divided
5 tablespoons butter, melted
3 TBS cognac or dark rum
1/3 cup plain fat-free yogurt
2 large eggs
6.75 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup ground flax seed
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
Cooking spray

Glaze:

1 TBS butter, melted
1 TBS cognac or rum
1/3 cup powdered sugar

Here's how:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine banana, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 5 tablespoons butter, and 3 tablespoons cognac in a nonstick skillet.

Butter, rum, bananas and brown sugar ready for the heat

Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to bubble. Remove from heat; cool.

Cooked and cooling

Place banana mixture in a large bowl. Add yogurt, remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, and eggs. Beat with a mixer at medium speed.

This is the brand of yogurt I used

Yogurt, eggs, brown sugar ready for the banana mixture

All mixed

Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through allspice) in a small bowl. Add flour mixture to banana mixture; beat just until blended.

This is the flax seed I used

Dry ingredients added to the wet ingredients

Batter done and ready for the pan

Pour batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray.

Small loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray with flour

Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack.

Ready for the oven

Remove bread from pan; place on wire rack.
Combine 1 tablespoon melted butter, 1 tablespoon cognac, and powdered sugar; stir until well blended. Drizzle over the warm bread. I put parchment under it before I drizzled for easy clean up.