And, lo and behold, this girl made banana bread. For the first time.
Because, obviously, when life gives you bananas, you make banana bread. Or something.
Sweet Banana Nut Bread
Anyways, I was working all day outside today, painting boards for our fence. Heck, I painted 70 boards this afternoon by myself. And I washed the car. And I took a break to watch an episode of Duck Dynasty. 
Please watch that show. I swear there is something about it that’s good for your soul 
Yes. Improve your life with Duck Dynasty.
See? Lookie here…
Ha. Haha. Yeah. Nice vein sticking out of your arm there, psycho. Ugh. But anyways that’s my duck face, for Duck Dynasty
It’s just one of those days I wanted to whip up something to satisfy my sweet tooth but not spend til kingdom come on it. Except for the fact that I ate only six or seven spoonfuls of store-bought cookie dough today.
Only that.
This has no sugar in it. Only bananas and good quality maple syrup. I also added some flax seeds for an extra healthy punch. I would have ground up the flax seeds into a powder, but, alas, our beautiful Vitamix broke 
::sigh:: Oh well. So I just added them in anyways. Next time, I’ll grind them up. And I also substituted half of the white flour for whole wheat flour (both I got from Bob’s Red Mill).
Sweet Banana-Cinnamon Bread
One 9×5 loaf
cast of characters
- 3 very ripe bananas, smashed
- 1/4 cup flax seeds
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
- 3/4- 1 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 Tablespoons butter, chilled & cut into small pieces
- 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 very ripe banana, for decor (opt)
- chopped walnuts, for decor (opt)
- peanut butter, for serving (opt) (not Jif. please? doesn’t matter how choosy your mom is.)
step by step
1) Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour a 9×5 loaf pan and set aside.
2) In a large bowl, combine flax, flour, baking powder, baking soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, and salt. In a separate medium bowl, combine buttermilk, butter, eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla. In another separate bowl, peel the bananas ans smash them (I used a whisk).
Add to the bowl with wet ingredients, and beat well. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
3) In yet another small bowl, work butter and cinnamon into pea-sized pieces. Just like in Erica Lea’s Cinnamon Bread.
Gently fold cinnamon butter into the batter. Pour into prepared loaf pan. You know why I say this? Because this creates little pockets of buttery cinnamon goodness. That way when you take a bite, you will bite into a buttery heaven. Ahhhhh….
If you want, top with the additional sliced banana and sprinkle some walnuts for total cuteness. Or because I told you to .
4) Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (I had to bake mine for an additional 10 minutes or so. Mine was a *leetle* too moist). Let cool in pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Turn bread out onto the rack and allow to cool.
5) Serve warm with some good peanut butter and some drizzled maple syrup & a nice hot cup of coffee. Mmm. Perfect for breakfast.
