Cranberry Pecan Banana Bread
Who else bought too many cranberries this holiday season? If so, you are going to love this dressed up banana bread, perfect for using up all those extra holiday ingredients we seem to acquire towards the end of the year.
If anyone in your family loves banana bread as much as my husband (he would eat it everyday given the opportunity) I strongly encourage you to freeze any over ripe bananas to use for banana bread at a later time (that is if you are not going to make the banana bread right away). Not only will you reduce food waste, but you will earn brownie points amongst your loved ones. Simply take the bananas out of the freezer 2-4 hours before you plan to make the bread.
Banana bread is a great choice for breakfast, morning tea (the period between breakfast and lunch, which is of the best meal times in New Zealand where I’m from) or dressed up with caramel sauce and ice cream for dessert.
This recipe is my basic banana bread with added holiday embellishments. If you don’t have cranberries, pecans or nutmeg on hand you can simply omit them and the recipe will still be great!
The best part about this recipe is you can make it in one bowl which means less dishes! You can also make this recipe with just a bowl and spoon, no fancy appliances required.
Simply mash the bananas directly into your mixing brown and go from there. I like to use a large fork to mash my bananas, but the back of a large spoon also works. After the bananas are mashed add the wet ingredients and stir to combine followed by the sugars.
Once the wet ingredients and sugars are well combined add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. You do not want to overmix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients as this will result in a dense, chewy texture in the final product. You also want to ensure you mix the ingredients enough so that there are no clumps of dry flour present in the batter.
Finally you will add the cranberries and pecan and lightly fold into the mixture. Again, be careful to not over mix the batter. I gently ran my spoon around the side of the bowl and back through the middle of the mixture about three times to combine my ingredients.
Next turn the completed batter into a greased loaf pan and bake. The baking time will vary depending on your oven, altitude and darkness of your baking pan. I baked my bread for 58 minutes. Once the bread is baked it is important to let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning it out on a wire rack. If you skip this resting period the bread is more likely to lose its shape.
If you don’t have a loaf pan this recipe can also be used to make banana muffins. Simply grease or line a muffin tin and fill the cups 3/4 with batter. Check the muffins after 20 minutes by poking the center of the muffin with a tooth pick. If the tooth pick comes out clean the muffins are done, if there is still raw batter on the pick they need more time.
Banana bread will also freeze well if wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored in a freeze ziplock bag.
Cranberry Pecan Banana Bread
Description
Cranberry Pecan Banana Bread is a great way is use over ripe bananas and extra cranberries and pecans from the holidays. You will love this easy one bowl recipe.
Ingredients
Instructions
-
- Grease a 9x5 loaf pan and set aside
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- Mash ripe bananas in a large mixing bowl using a fork or back of a spoon
- Add eggs, vanilla, butter and yogurt and stir to combine enduring egg yolks are broken and well distributed
- Add brown and granulated sugar and stir to combine
- Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix till just combined
- Fold in chopped pecans and cranberries and turn batter into greased loaf pan
- Bake at 350° until surface of the bread is golden and tooth pick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean (approx. 55 minutes)
- Let loaf cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning onto a wire rack