Banana Bread

We don’t usually have a lot of overripe bananas, but I was recently gifted bananas which were already covered with several dark spots. When bananas get too ripe to enjoy, don’t throw them away: they are great for baking and smoothies. If you are diabetic you especially want to avoid overripe bananas and should only have bananas with a green tip. This banana bread is great, and can even be toasted. The trick is to NOT OVERMIX, since the bananas make it dense.

Bananas lose nutrients when they are overripe and cooked. Nevertheless, this is a great way to use up overripe bananas. Five or six bananas are used to get 2 1/3 cups mashed bananas. Bananas contain Vitamin C, Iron, Potassium, Vitamin B6, Manganese, Dietary Fiber, Protein, Magnesium, Folate, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin A, Sucrose, Fructose and Glucose.

The bananas you use for this recipe should be very ripe and brown. If you can’t bake right away Place the bananas in the freezer to use at a later date. Once thawed, though the blackened bananas will be ugly and slimy, they will make your baking taste great!

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Written by Yvette Green

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