Pinteresting Summer

Challenge 1-Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread-Completed Successfully

As I mention earlier I have made this banana bread twice before and have found it is the best recipe for banana bread I have come across. I must first admit that I DO NOT like nuts in my banana bread. I like walnuts, just not in my brownies and not in my banana bread. When I found a recipe that didn't include nuts to begin with and had cinnamon in the title I was sold. This is what the Pinterest picture looks like, I mean how could you not want to eat that?

I was taught by the glorious Paula Deen that the first time you make a recipe you need to follow it, after that you can play with it as much as you want to. The first time I made the recipe I followed her rule and the recipe. It turned out great and got the thumbs up from the husband, the toddler, and my husband's coworkers. This time when I made it I followed the recipe for the most part except I had 4 bananas and the recipe calls for 3 (guess how many bananas went in the mixer). Also we keep a shaker container with cinnamon sugar in our cabinet so I didn't mix the cinnamon sugar to the specifics of the recipe. Other than that I was a firm recipe follower to wonderful results.

The recipe is: Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread
For the bread:

• 3 over-ripe bananas, smashed up
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking soda
• dash of salt
• 1 1/2 cups flour

For the swirl:

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 Tbs cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter and four a loaf pan. Mine was 9 x 5, but you could use any sort, I suppose. Just keep a close eye on it in the oven, and adjust the time as needed
2. Mix bananas, butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla together. sprinkle baking soda and salt around on top of the banana mixture. Then gently stir in flour. Be careful not to over-mix!
3. In a small dish, mix together the 1/3 cup sugar and 1 Tbs cinnamon.
4. Add 1/2 of the batter to the loaf pan and then sprinkle half, or a little more than half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture all over the batter in the pan. Add the rest of the batter, and then sprinkle the leftover cinnamon-sugar on top.
5. Bake for 50-60 minutes, but remember, if you’re using a different-sized loaf pan, be careful and keep a close eyeball on it! (from http://www.lovintheoven.com/2010/03/cinnamon-swirl-banana-bread.html)

I baked mine at 350 however it was ready to come out of the oven at about 48 minutes. This may have been because I baked mine in a silicon loaf pan. My finished product though I'm sure as tasty as the picture above, wasn't as visually appealing.

I may have put a little too much cinnamon sugar (but really how can you have too much cinnamon sugar). One of the things I love about the recipe is that the cinnamon sugar on top creates a crispyness to the crust and it is a great partner to the soft fluffy middle.

Because of the silicon bakeware (and some Pam) the bread came out of the pan very easily and looks more appetizing than in my dingy old loaf pan.

Bread was soft on the inside and cooked enough that no part was gooey (which has happened to some of my other banana bread recipes). Bread got thumbs up again from me and the hubby. I'm sure the toddler will have some for breakfast and the rest is going to work with the husband so that I am not forced to overindulge in its deliciousness. This Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread is a huge Pinterest Win and anyone should give it a try if they have a few overly ripe bananas lying around and about 60 minutes of their hands!