Banana Bread - No Mixer Required

Banana Bread

Ripe bananas on the counter or in the freezer.  Mash up 2-3 of them and grab a couple of bowls, a whisk and spatula and grease a loaf pan and in minutes you will have a Banana Bread ready to bake with the basic baking ingredients you probably already have in your cupboard.

To counteract all the baking I have been doing I have committed to the 30-day squat challenge I found on Pinterest.  It says not to jump right in and start anywhere in the middle but I must say I have decided to just focus on certain days, specifically days 4, 8, 12 & 16, I just keep repeating them again and again and again!  Check it out, I think you will like these days as well.  Have a piece of banana bread before and after your squat workout.  You know, food equals fuel!

Today's recipe is from Baking Unplugged and all the recipes are made without any electrical devices, no mixers or food processors.  So this is great if you are at the cottage or have kids that want to bake and you haven't got or don't wish to pull out you stand mixer since it is buried in behind the coffee grinder and food processor in the cupboard.

So before you get started with the original recipe in my version I omitted the lemon zest and the coconut and instead I mixed some pecans and dark chocolate chips and a little bit of cinnamon together and sprinkled it over the tops of the loaves before baking.  Plus I did mix a few dark chocolate chips into the batter.  Add in what you like or leave it plain but just go ahead and mix one up.

If your loaf is baking up around the edges but staying very wet in the centre tent a piece of foil and just lay over top of your loaf.  This will help stop the edges from overbaking while allowing the bread to bake right through.

Banana Bread

Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray 1 loaf pan or 3 mini loaf pans and set aside.

1 1/4 cups mashed banana

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1/4 cup buttermilk or sour cream

1 Tbs grated lemon zest

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut

1/2 cup toasted pecans

Whisk together the mashed bananas, sugar, oil, eggs, buttermilk or sour cream and lemon zest until reasonably light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until well combined.

Dump the flour mixture into the wet mixture and sprinkle the coconut and pecans over the top of the flour.  Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until the batter just barely comes together.

Scrape batter into the prepared loaf pan and rap on counter to level.

Bake in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.

Cool slightly and remove from loaf pan.  

Really, is there any excuse not to make this up?