BANANA RAISIN BREAD
I became hooked on banana bread as an indirect result of eating something else when I was little. I was a big cereal eater growing up, and there are always those particular kinds that stand out. For me, it was Corn Chex, Honey Bunches of Oats, Corn Pops, and Banana Nut Crunch. I obsessed over anything with a banana flavor in it for a while, and that’s when we made a loaf of banana bread at home. I fell in love with it ever since.
Tonight, I decided to try out the recipe that I used a while back to make a loaf of banana bread with the extremely ripe bananas that we had sitting around. After a long time of looking for a good banana bread recipe, I’ve found one that includes an unusual secret ingredient to make it quite delicious. I’ll let you look over the recipe list to see if you can spot it.
Banana Raisin Bread
(Makes 1 loaf that yields around 8 – 10 slices)
~ 2 bananas, mashed
~ 1 egg
~ 3/4 cup sugar
~ 3 tbsp oil
~ 4 oz. light sour cream
~ 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
~ 1/2 tsp cinnamon
~ 1/8 tsp salt
~ 3/4 tsp baking soda
~ 1 cup flour
~ 1/3 cup raisins
Pan Dusting:
~ 1 tbsp sugar
~ 1/4 tsp cinnamon
Yep, you read that correct. We’ll be adding some sour cream to this bread. A lot of people usually give me a really skeptical look when I tell them that sour cream is in the bread, but one bite and they instantly turn into believers. The sour cream is in the bread to give it more moisture and give it that “semi-spongy” feel of not a densely-packed bread loaf.
To start things off, preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Take out a loafpan (I used an 8.5″ x 4.5″, but a 9″ x 5″ should be good as well) and grease the inside with some oil. Take the sugar and cinnamon from the “pan dusting” section and coat the pan with it.
In a large mixing bowl, add the sugar, oil, and egg together. Mix that until it is well combined. Then, add in the bananas, sour cream, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Stir that all together until well mixed. Set aside for now.
In another bowl, mix together the salt, baking soda, and flour. Incrementally add this to the wet mixture and stir until the batter is smooth. Add in the raisins as the last bit to complete the batter before pouring it into the bread pan. Throw the pan into the oven for about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Check to see if it needs more time by performing the toothpick test (inserting the toothpick and seeing if anything stick to it after you pull it from the product). Let the bread cool for about 5 – 10 minutes before removing it onto a serving tray.
With the sugar and cinnamon dusting the outside of the pan, it ensures that the bread even had flavors on its exterior, not just inside the bread itself. The raisins serve to contrast very well with the bread texture and add more flavor.
This banana bread is packed with flavor in virtually every bite. Nothing beats the taste of banana bread that is fresh out of the oven. It was enough that I got another slice, only to be almost coaxed in for a third!
Categories: Recipes
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