I promised you I would tell you about the best banana bread recipe I ever made. I think it would be appropriate for some funky music to play right here, and for Barry White to moan “oh yeah” in that voice of his.
It’s that good.
I cannot take credit for this delicious recipe. I found it on Amandeleine’s blog.
It’s everything I ever wanted in a banana bread: moist, dense, full of flavor. I like that, in Amanda’s post, she includes a photo of the bananas she uses. Up till this point in my life I was under the impression that any banana would make a good banana bread. Shame on me. The banana needs to be spotted, dotted and pretty much beyond saving. It needs to look like it’s practically rotting. Then it’s ready to bathe in brown sugar, butter and decadence.
Speaking of bananas, have you heard that separating them at the stem will help slow down the ripening process? I read somewhere that bananas are susceptible to peer pressure, so if one of them starts to ripen, the rest of them will, too. And if one of them starts to snuggle up to the apples in the fruit bowl, the rest of them will, too. It’s a downward spiral from there, and the next thing you know all your bananas will be peeling themselves just for the thrill of it.
Some people go a step further and wrap their banana stems in saran wrap. Or you can just toss the bananas in the fridge. Whatever it takes to stop them from becoming self-aware and rotting.
(There is some science involved here in the form of ethylene gas, but let’s not bog ourselves down with logic.)
Anyway.
For the purpose of this banana bread, go ahead and let your bananas canoodle together, stems attached, until they are almost fully rotten.
To take it just past the point of sanity, add little peels of dark chocolate atop your batter and let it do its magic. Mmmm. Can’t get enough of your love, babe.
