Whole Wheat Banana Nut Bread

My dear friend Stephanie got me hooked on a book called "Small Batch Baking" by Debby Maugans Nakos. I was able to buy it on Amazon.com for $4+ shipping/handling. It really is a great concept and book because who doesn't love dessert but doesn't like making 2 dozen cookies with only 2 people to eat them. I LOVE dessert...Todd, not so much, but he'll usually eat a little bit so small batch baking is great for us. The book has recipes for cookies, cakes, cupcakes, breads, you name it and the recipes are all scaled for 2-3 servings each and most of the recipes call for ingredients you typically have around the house. You can't just take a regular cake recipe and divide it by 8 and make that to get 2-3 servings, so there is a science behind it. Anyway, I got the book a few weeks ago but hadn't made anything yet but Todd and I had 2 bananas that we just couldn't seem to eat before they got too ripe and anyone that knows me knows that I like them pretty brown, but even these had gone too far for me. So I was hoping their was a banana bread recipe in the small batch baking book and low and behold, there was! The only kicker was that small batch baking has to take place in small baking pans, which of course you don't register for at Bed Bath and Beyond when you get married, but who doesn't need an excuse to go to Target?! Well, Wilton makes a whole line of mini bakeware for $6 a piece...mini loaf pans, cake pans, bundt pan, and tube pan! I just got the loaf pan and cake pans because I figure I'll use those more, maybe I'll get the others another time. So after all that I made the banana bread which turned out DELICIOUS!



Here's how I made it...

Ingredients:
Unsalted butter, at room temperature for preparing the loaf pan (I used Pam for baking)
1/4 cup plus 1 tbs. all purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flower
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (1 to 1 1/2 bananas) (I used 2)
1/4 cup plus 2 tbs packed light brown sugar
3 tbs vegetable oil
3/4 tsp vanilla
yolk of 1 medium egg (I used about 3/4 of a large egg yolk)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional) (I used walnuts)

Pan required: 1 petite loaf pan (5x3 inches)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease loaf pan and set aside.

Place both flours, baking powder, soda and salt in a medium mixing bowl and whisk to blend.

Place the mashed bananas, brown sugar, oil, vanilla, and egg yolk in a small bowl and whisk to blend. Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture all at once, and stir until just blended. Stir in nuts if using.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, and bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 23-25 minutes. (23 was perfect for me).

Remove pan from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Loaf will keep for 2 days at room temperature or for 1 month in the freezer.

Yum!