i only have 2 children at the daycare today, huzzah! and they have been busily playing together for the past 2 hours ” there’s a whale! quick, run, chloe! jack jack, did you see the whale??? there’s a whale! quick, run chloe! ” over and over and over for the last 2 hours. sometimes when i have heard the same play repeated more than ten times, i either turn the music up just a bit, get on the computer for a few minutes to clear my mind, or i get in the kitchen and do some baking. i used to think that i only really baked when i was sad, but i have come to the realization that i bake when 1) i am bored 2) i am sad 3) i am happy 4) i am hungry or 5) on a day that ends in y. okay, so i just like to bake. show me a delicious recipe for a cookie, brownie or sweet type of bread and i am sold. in the kitchen i go, on goes my apron, and out comes the vanilla extract, sugar and flour.
today, i made this
from here smitten kitchen. i added about 1/2 of a 70% cacao ( ca- COW!) chocolate bar and added a cinnamon crumb topping. to amp up the flavor, i also roasted the bananas in their skins for 30 minutes @ 350 degrees on a baking sheet. they turned this lovely roasty chocolate brown color and the banana juice (?) that seeped out of the bananas and pooled on the baking sheet as they roasted was yummy. i had never roasted bananas before so i had to taste the stuff that oozed out, right? it tasted like bananas (duh) but with an incredibly concentrated and sweet, almost caramel like flavor. so good. no, i did not lick the baking sheet to get all the caramelly banana-y goodness. ahem. thats just ridiculous. but if you choose to do so, just let the baking sheet cool first.
i have made plenty of banana bread before this one, using several different recipes, and i do believe this is my favorite. roasting the bananas first really adds this roasty, sweet and intense banana flavor to the bread. in a good way. a very good way. i think the next time i make it the only thing i would alter is that i would add a shot of bourban to the batter. THAT might make it perfection. let’s see what daniel thinks of it when he gets home. this would make a delicious dessert all by itself, warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or with a heap of vanilla bean mascarpone cream on top. but we will be having it for breakfast tomorrow morning, warmed up just a little in the toaster and with a nice cup of coffee. who’s coming over for breakfast?
see recipe above, smitten kitchen
i just chopped the chocolate into small pieces and then added it to the batter and stirred right before i poured it into the loaf pan.
cinnamon crumb topping
2T sugar
2T packed brown sugar, dark or light, no matter
1t cinnamon
mix with a fork or your fingers, then sprinkle all of it all over the bread before it goes in the oven.
tip…i like to set my oven timer for 1/2 the amount of time a recipe calls for, bake, rotate it, then bake it the remainder of the time. this ensures even cooking and browning since most ovens have hot/cold spots in them.
if you are feelin’ frisky and want to try it with the vanilla bean mascarpone cream…
- 3/4 cup mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
- 1 cup very cold heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 vanilla bean pod, cut lengthwise. scrape with tip of paring knife, and add little seeds to the mixture
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
add heavy cream, vanilla bean, extract and sugar into a large bowl and using hand beater, beat on med speed 2 minutes, then med high speed until consistency of whipped cream. add mascarpone and fold in with a wooden spoon.
















