I recently realized that food is one of the most important aspects of my life. Since we, as humans, obtain all of our energy through this thing called food, the conclusion that food is important is somewhat obvious. Love of food, however, goes beyond just the ingestion of it. Food comes in so many different forms, and the different combinations of taste and texture make eating such a pleasant experience. Since so much of my time is spent either thinking about eating, making something to eat, or actually eating, I figured I would start seriously documenting my thoughts about all things food, as well as the various adventures I experience while trying to satiate my hunger. I love food, I love rambling about my life, and recently I'm really starting to love photography, so what better way to combine them all than by adding yet another food blog to the world's endless warehouse. Despite having an extremely average writing ability, I also really love literary devices and wordplay, so please bear with me as I pretend that I'm clever and attempt to force puns and whatnot onto unwilling audiences. With that said, here I begin.
Today is my dear friend's birthday, and for practicality's sake, I decided to send her a quick bread instead of a cake because there's less of a chance for it to get destroyed in the mail. With no decorations or embellishments, there's nothing to get messed up as it's tossed around by those friendly people whose driver's seats are on the right side of their vehicle. Also, it tends to stay moist and delicious for longer. This was baked Friday night, sent Saturday morning via USPS priority mail, and should arrive Monday morning. Yes, it'll be a day late, but that's life.
Banana bread ranks pretty high on my list of favorite loaves. Bananas are pretty powerful creatures, and when put together with other things, such as in smoothies, they tend to overwhelm and make everything taste like banana. Banana bread is great because it's dedicated to that one ingredient, and it's supposed to taste very much like banana. It's also pretty hard to mess up. Actually, quick breads in general are pretty hard to ruin. You basically pour everything into that rectangular cavity and jam it in the oven for a while. This is why my loaf pan and I are best friends.
I am pretty fond of this recipe. I think the lime juice and rind balance out the sweetness of the banana, which can be pretty dangerous because I can keep eating slice after slice. Fortunately, this loaf is going to my friend, so I will delay my transformation into a whale for a little while longer.
Aww, ingredients look so happy together
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
2 Tbsp. cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup mashed bananas
1/2 cup milk
1/tsp. grated lime rind
2 tsp. lime juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Directions: Preheat oven to 375 F and grease a 9x5 loaf pan. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar, and cream cheese. I actually didn't have cream cheese, so I used yogurt instead. I don't know if that affected the taste or texture much since I didn't get to try it, but I guess I'll have to ask my friend what she thinks. Add in the egg and mix until incorporated.
In another bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In yet another bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until you get a fairly smooth paste. It should somewhat resemble slightly lumpy oatmeal. Add in the milk, lime rind, lime juice, and vanilla extract and mix.
Returning to your sugar-butter mixture, add a bit of the flour mixture and a bit of the banana mixture, and mix until smooth. Add more of the flour mixture, the rest of the banana mixture, and mix until smooth. Mix in the rest of the banana mixture. I'm not really sure why you're supposed to alternate the mixtures, but hey, that's what the recipe card says, so I follow the instructions. My only hypothesis is that alternating lets the acidic lime juice and basic baking soda react at a gradual pace, but who knows. One of these days I'll try just dumping everything in at once and mixing to see if it makes a difference. If doing so has no effect on the bread, I will be happy since it could save just a tad bit of effort, and I am kind of lazy.
Lastly, stir in the pecans and then pour the batter into your loaf pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes, depending on your oven. In my rather underpowered dorm room oven, it takes 60 minutes. In my excessively zealous home kitchen oven, it takes more like 45 minutes. Basically just keep an eye on it when it's been in the oven for around that amount of time. Take out the bread when time's up, let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes, and then relocate it to a cooling rack or similar device. And then devour it. I personally prefer my quick breads with an even consistency rather than a crunchy crust, so I like to eat my banana bread on the next day, after it's been sitting in a covered container for a while. But I never say no to a slice from a warm, freshly baked banana bread.
Fresh from the oven!
I hope this particular loaf makes it safely through the mail.
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