Extra Banana Banana Bread

Chock full of ripe bananas, this extra banana banana bread is now my go-to recipe when bananas need using up. It’s an absolute favorite at our house! It's perfect for breakfast or snack time and goes delightfully with a cup of tea.

For most of this summer, we’ve been camping out upstairs in our own house, cooking in a makeshift kitchen in one of the spare bedrooms, because our contractor was building us a fabulous addition. 

After quite a few delays – isn’t that always the way? – the handover took place in mid-August and I was finally able to use my gorgeous new kitchen with brand new appliances, including a dual fuel stove and even a second oven! Heaven.

But before that, in the makeshift kitchen, I had some very ripe bananas languishing in the fruit bowl. In an effort to get a break from the construction, we were taking off for a week away. Since I simply cannot bear wasting food if I can help it, I baked this wonderful extra banana banana bread in my Ninja Flip using a 9-in round cake pan. I left it with a note for the worker bees before we headed out. 

I got back to rave reviews! They LOVED it! Well, you know I had to bake it again in the new kitchen. But this time, my big oven had room for an actual bread pan, which was probably more exciting to me than it should be, because I’m sad that way. Maybe you can relate.

I named this extra banana banana bread because it contains DOUBLE the amount of bananas in my usual recipe and it uses extra ripe bananas, the ones that are WELL past their best. Also half the sugar. You don't need it because the ripe bananas are so sweet. 

Extra Banana Banana Bread

Whatever pan you bake this in – normal loaf pan or 9 in round cake pan – I promise, it’s great. Moist, flavorful and lovely. I give the weights of my mashed bananas below but this is a very forgiving recipe. A little more or less will not make a difference. The first, the cake pan one, had a little more banana by weight.

Ingredients

4 extremely ripe bananas, mashed – my almost 2 cups full weighed 9 1/2 oz or 270g 

1/3 cup or 80ml canola or other light oil

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup or 100g sugar

1 1/2 cups or 188g flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt 

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and line your chosen baking pan with baking parchment.  

Peel then mash the bananas with a fork in a mixing bowl. 

Add in the oil, eggs and vanilla then whisk till incorporated.

Add in the sugar and whisk again. 

In separate bowl, measure out flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Mix to combine. (I also sift my baking soda into the bowl, because in a humid climate, it can get a bit lumpy.)

Add the flour mixture all at once to the banana mixture. 

Fold until just combined. 

Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for 30-40 minutes in a round cake pan or 50-55 minutes in a bread pan.

Remove from the oven. 

Take the banana bread out of the hot pan and leave to cool before slicing to serve. 

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are celebrating International Banana Festival Day which falls on September 21st. Many thanks to our host, Camilla of Culinary Cam. Check out the links below. 

• Banana Apple Coffee Cake Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Banana Daiquiri from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Banana Oat Muffins from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Extra Banana Banana Bread from Food Lust People Love
• High Protein Banana Muffins from Our Good Life
• Protein Rich Banana Smoothie from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Using Banana Leaves + Cochinita Pibil from Culinary Cam
• Vrat Kacche Kele Ke Seekh Kebab from Sneha's Recipe

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Brown Sugar Lemon Cassava Loaf #BreadBakers

Naturally gluten free, this Brown Sugar Lemon Cassava Loaf bakes up light and fluffy with a lovely crunchy sugar top. It’s great as is or even toasted.

A couple of my fellow food bloggers have introduced me through their recipes to two flours I had never used before, cassava and coconut. No one in my family needs to be gluten free but I do love experimenting with new ingredients. 

Recently I read the fascinating book, Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America and learned even more about the traditional use of cassava in cooking and baking by the indigenous tribes of the Caribbean. 

To quote the Amazon blurb: “Exemplifying how Native foodways can teach us all to connect with the natural world around us, Turtle Island features rich narrative histories and spotlights the communities producing, gathering, and cooking these foods, including remarkable stories of ingenuity and adaptation that capture the resilience of Indigenous communities.” 

It's an amazing read and extremely humbling. There’s so much I didn’t know and still need to learn about this continent, pre-arrival of foreign colonizers.

I was expecting guests for a teatime visit a couple of weeks ago so I decided to give cassava flour a spin. They took the leftovers home with them, one saying that she planned to eat her slices with coffee for breakfast, that’s how well it went over! 

Brown Sugar Lemon Cassava Loaf

Both my husband and I thought the loaf could have been a little sweeter but, as I said, the guests liked it just as it was. If you have a bit of a sweet tooth, use the whole ¾ cup or 150g of brown sugar in the list. Next time I bake this, I plan to. 

Ingredients

1 ½ cups or 180g cassava flour

½ – ¾ cup or 100-150g dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

Zest 1 lemon (save lemon for juicing)

3 eggs, room temperature

½ cup or 120ml canola or other light oil

½ cup or 123g plain full-fat Greek yogurt

Juice 1 lemon (about 3 tablespoons)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Optional but highly recommended for that crunchy top: 2-3 tablespoons turbinado sugar

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and line a loaf pan with baking parchment.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cassava flour, brown sugar, baking powder, sea salt and lemon zest.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, oil, yogurt, lemon juice and vanilla extract together until smooth.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture and fold until it is just combined but make sure no flour is showing.

Pour the batter into your lined loaf pan. I hold the baking parchment up with clothes pegs which works a treat. You do have to remove them before baking! 

Sprinkle on the turbinado sugar, if using. 

Bake for 45–50 minutes. The edges should be golden brown, and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.

Leave to cool in the pan then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Slice to serve. Enjoy! 

It’s the second Tuesday of the month which means it’s time for my Bread Baker friends to share their bakes. Our theme today is Breakfast Bread! Many thanks to our host Kelly from A Messy Kitchen. Check out the links below.

• Brown Sugar Lemon Cassava Loaf from Food Lust People Love 
• Girelle - Italian Breakfast Pastry from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Greek Yogurt and Blueberry Oat Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Kheema Anda Paratha from Sneha's Recipe
• Sourdough Gingerbread Waffles from A Messy Kitchen
• Sourdough Plum Almond Bread from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Zucchini Cassava Muffins from Passion Kneaded

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this Brown Sugar Lemon Cassava Loaf!

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Easy Drop Biscuits #BreadBakers

Made with just five ingredients you likely have on hand, these easy drop biscuits bake up light and fluffy, the perfect quick bread to accompany any meal.

The secret to flakey drop biscuits is to make sure the butter is well chilled and combined briefly so, for these drop biscuits, I recommend freezing your butter first. Then grating into the flour. 

And as easy and quick as these are to make, my next tip has stood me in good stead for mornings that things are rushed: Grate the butter into the flour mixture any day when you have time to spare. Bag it up and throw it in the freezer. Whenever you need the drop biscuits, preheat the oven. Tip the bag into a bowl, mix in the milk and you are ready to bake! Easy peasy.

Depending on your freezer space, you can make multiple bags to have in readiness for easy drop biscuits anytime! 

Easy Drop Biscuits

This recipe does call for whole milk. If you only have 2% in your refrigerator, add two tablespoons heavy cream to your measuring vessel and then top up with 2% milk to the 1 1/2 cup or 180ml mark. This recipe makes 12 biscuits.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups or 313g all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 cup or 113g unsalted butter, frozen

3/4 cup or 180ml whole milk

Method

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Grate the butter into the flour, tossing to coat occasionally as you do. Use the bigger side of the grater. 

Put the whole bowl in the freezer until you are ready to bake. (Or in a labeled bag as mentioned above.)

When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and line a baking sheet with baking parchment or a silicone liner.

When your oven is at temperature, add the milk to the flour mixture. Stir lightly with a fork until the mixture comes together into a sticky, shaggy dough.

Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop the dough up then release it onto the prepared baking pan with a small spatula. 

Repeat until all the drop biscuits are in the pan, ready to bake.

Bake the biscuits in your preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. 

Let cool slightly, then transfer to a wire rack. 

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Enjoy!

It’s the second Tuesday of the month, which means it’s time for my Bread Baker friends to share their recipes. Our theme today is biscuits! Many thanks to our host, Susan of The Wimpy Vegetarian. Check out the links below. 

• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Apple Cider Biscuits
• A Messy Kitchen : Cast Iron Buttermilk Biscuits
• The Wimpy Vegetarian: Cheesy Air Fryer Biscuits with Herbs
• Karen's Kitchen Stories: Cream Cheese Biscuits
• Food Lust People Love: Easy Drop Biscuits
• Sneha’s Recipe: Keto Biscuits With Almond & Coconut Flour
• Palatable Pastime: Sausage and Cheddar Biscuits

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Easy Drop Biscuits!

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Steamed Cranberry Pecan Honey Bread #BreadBakers

A slightly sweet tender loaf, this steamed cranberry pecan honey bread is wonderful sliced, even better toasted, buttered or not. We loved it all the ways! 

When this month’s Bread Baker’s host proposed “steamed breads” as our theme for July, I thought, excellent! No turning the oven on when it’s roasting outside. 

Gently steaming something on the stovetop sounded ideal.

A lot of the recipes I found online were either Asian in origin, or called for steaming in a coffee can. It just so happens that I have a couple of coffee cans saved for exactly such an occasion. Just not where I currently am! And rare is the coffee that comes in a can these days. 

Time to adapt. You can steam this in a well-oiled 1 lb coffee can or use a small loaf pan like I have. Mine is 8 1/2 X 4 1/4 in or 21.6 x 10.8cm. 

Steamed Cranberry Pecan Honey Bread

You can easily switch out the cranberries and pecans for other dried fruits and nuts. This very versatile recipe is adapted from one on Mother Earth News. 

Ingredients

2/3 cup or 95g fine yellow cornmeal

2/3 cup or 83g all-purpose flour

1/3 cup or 40g whole wheat flour

1/3 cup or 25g bran flakes, slightly crushed

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 egg

3/4 cup or 180ml milk

1/3 cup or 80ml honey

1/3 cup or 55g dried cranberries, plus extra for topping, if desired

1/3 cup or 40g chopped pecans, plus extra for topping, if desired

Canola or other light oil for greasing the loaf pan

Method

Combine the cornmeal, the flours, the bran flakes, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder in a large bowl. 

Give the cranberries and pecans a quick splash of water and stir them well to dampen. 

Toss them in the dry mixture to coat. This should help them not all sink to the bottom as the loaf steams. 

In another mixing bowl, whisk together the egg, milk and honey. Keep whisking until the honey is completely dissolved. 

Fold the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until well combined.

Pour the batter into a well-greased loaf pan. Top with extra cranberries and pecans, if using. 

Then cover the pan with foil, set it on a steamer basket or metal cookie cutters inside a large pot with just enough water in the pot to submerge the bottom the pan.

Bring the water to a boil. 

Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for two hours. Check the pot now and then to make sure that all the water isn’t boiling away. Add a little hot tap water as needed.

At the end of the steaming period, remove the pan from the pot and carefully remove the foil. 

When it’s cool enough to handle–run a knife around the inside and turn the loaf out gently onto a wire rack to cool. 

When completely cool, slice to serve.

The sliced bread is delicious spread with cream cheese, butter or just plain!

Enjoy! 

It’s the second Tuesday of the month – kind of snuck up on me this month since July 1st was a Tuesday! – and that means it’s time for our Bread Bakers group to share their recipes for steamed breads. Many thanks to our host, Sneha of Sneha’s Recipe. Check out the links below 

• Bao Buns from Passion Kneaded
• Dessert Bao (Chocolate Steamed Buns) from A Messy Kitchen
• Keto Chinese Steamed Buns from Sneha's Recipe
• Paczki na Parze (Polish Steamed Donuts) from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Buns {Sheng Jian Bao) from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Steamed Cranberry Pecan Honey Bread from Food Lust People Love

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this Steamed Cranberry Pecan Honey Bread! 

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