Saturday, November 29, 2014

Carrot Banana Bread

It seems that I either have no bananas or when I do have bananas, I have a whole bunch of them that all ripen at the same time. Recently, I found myself with many many overripe bananas, so it was the perfect time to try some more banana recipes. I think it's blatantly obvious by now, but banana bread is one of my favorite desserts and I never get tired of trying new ones. Some are good, some not so much, but even the not so good ones aren't much of a disappointment.
A variation of banana bread I've been meaning to try since seeing it on some blogs is carrot banana bread, a hybrid of carrot cake and banana bread. I'm a fan of both, so of course it was a no-brainer. It's not much of a stretch to combine the two since the warm spices of carrot cake work perfectly in banana bread. I decided to try a healthified version of carrot banana bread from a fellow Mel of Mel's Kitchen Cafe. The banana bread came out great, but I decided to make just a few slight changes because it was not quite as light as I would've liked, so I dehealthified just a bit.

Carrot Banana Bread
Recipe adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe
Makes One 9x5 inch loaf

2 cups all purpose flour (8.5 ounces)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup mashed bananas, 3 very ripe medium bananas or 2 large
3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup finely grated carrots

Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Line a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with parchment or lightly grease.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the mashed bananas, brown sugar, coconut oil, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla extract until well combined. Add in the grated carrots. Fold in the flour mixture with a spatula until just combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Banana bread will last, well wrapped, at room temp for several days or for several weeks in the freezer.

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