Cinnamon Pecan Banana Bread

Last night, all I wanted to do was bake something (I think I read too much of Jessica’s blog, because I always want to bake all of a sudden!)

Luckily, my banana were at that point where I either had to bake them up or throw them into the freezer.  I opted for the first option.  I prefer instant gratification.  I think that’s understandable.

Whenever there are mushy bananas around, I tend to go right for banana bread, mostly because I love it (though I will say the best I ever had comes from Restaurant Nicholas.  They give you a piece to go for your breakfast the next morning.  Also, it’s the best restaurant ever).  The only thing about making banana bread is that my mother in law won’t go near it (hi Marlene!).  When she was pregnant with Solomon’s older brother, my father in law left bananas sitting out past their prime on a hot summer day.  She came home to an apartment stinking of bananas and has been grossed out by them ever since.  I really can’t blame her though.  That would disgust me too!

Now that I’ve meandered totally away from the point, back to banana bread.  My banana bread.  My favorite recipe comes from one of my bibles, the Joy of Cooking.  If for any reason you don’t own this, I think you should.  I promise, you’ll like it. 

Here’s their recipe:

• 5 1/3 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/3 cup AP flour
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup mashed, very ripe bananas (about 2)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

First, combine the sugar and butter until blended.  Then add the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder and mix until the consistency of brown sugar.  You can mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, but I just dump them all in there at once.  I don’t really feel like cleaning another bowl.

Gradually beat in both eggs, then fold in your bananas and nuts until just combined.  This is what my batter looked like.

Normally I would add walnuts to my banana bread, but I realized the only walnuts I had were whole ones, and I thought it was more important that I get this bad boy into the oven so I could see who got kicked off Idol, than to start chopping.  I was so happy to find about 1/2 cup of already chopped pecans in my pantry.  See, having a ridiculously overstocked pantry IS helpful!

Then came the inspiration part, courtesy of Solomon.  He was digging through the pantry for his dinner, and reminded me of these.

Yes you are reading that right, but let’s do a little extreme close up action just for fun.

Why, why, why did I only buy one bag?!?!  Why is the closest store that sells these Wegman’s which is 45 minutes away?!?!?  Note to self…stock up next time.  Fill the pantry with these bad boys.

I threw in 1/2 cup of these to the batter.  It wasn’t enough.  The whole bag would have been totally sufficient.

Once these were combined into the batter, I poured it all into a greased loaf pan and put it in a 350 degree oven for 65 minutes. 

The recipe calls for 50 to 60 minutes, but my oven is medieval and doesn’t work at all properly!  Once the toothpick came out somewhat clean, that was good enough for me.

We decided to cut right into it before bothering to take a picture.  Grey’s was on at this point, I was riveted.  Boy, I lead a pretty lame life, don’t I?  I didn’t get great pictures, but everyone knows what banana bread looks like, so I’m guessing it’s OK!

I definitely wish I had put more cinnamon chips in.  They melted into the bread, rather than staying whole, like chocolate chips would.  But boy, was it good!  I loved taking a bite and getting a yummy burst of cinnamon.  Because I love cinnamon a lot.

Other than the bread and excessive TV watching, this is what else went on in my house last night.

It’s seriously a rough life here, isn’t it?  How cute are my boys though?!?!

What’s a fun recent grocery find you made?  Are you a banana bread fan?