Episode 15

Over the weekend the twins and I made some banana bread. Sullivan loves banana bread and calls all muffins, breads, pastries “banana bread.” This is a super easy banana bread recipe that you can whip up in no time. The most important thing when it comes to making banana bread is to make sure your bananas are ripe. The skins need to be freckled and the fruit itself is too soft to enjoy as a snack. For an even stronger banana flavor, give it a few more days to let the skins turn brown and the fruit fall apart when peeled.

For this recipe, I used a whisk and spatula to do the mixing. Oh, and a fork to mash up the bananas. I guess you could pull out a hand mixer, but there really is no need for it when it mixes together as easily as this does.

Banana Bread

Ingredients

• Cooking Spray
• 8 tbsp unsalted butter (1 stick)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 medium bananas, ripe
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and prep the pan. You can either spray the loaf pan directly with cooking spray, or line the inside with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray. The parchment paper makes it super easy to take out of the loaf pan once it’s done baking.
2. Melt the butter in the microwave (or stove top.)
3. Combine the butter and sugar with a whisk.
4. Add the eggs and combine with a whisk.
5. Whisk in the milk and vanilla.
6. Add in the bananas. I’ve done this both ways: 1) add them directly to the bowl and mash into the batter or 2) mash separately and then add to the bow. It really doesn’t matter which way you choose, as long as they get mixed in with the batter.
7. Add in the remaining dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt.) At this point, it may become easier to use a spatula to mix.
8. Pour the batter into the pan.
9. Bake for about an hour. You’ll want to start checking at about 50 minutes in. The top needs to turn a dark brown color with the yellow of the cake peeking through. Insert a toothpick into the bread and when it comes out clean, then it’s done. There is no “standard” on how long to bake the banana bread because it all depends on the sugar and moisture content of the bananas you use.
10. Once it’s done, let it cool for about 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack. After that, remove it from the pan and let it sit for another 10 minutes.

Tips for Baking with Kids

One thing I do when baking with the twins is prepare everything ahead of time (kind of like on cooking shows.) It typically uses more kitchen supplies (mostly more bowls!) but I just throw them all in the dishwasher when we are done. Having it all set out and ready to pour in the bowl, mix, etc. keeps their attention and prevents the potential for an even bigger mess than we are already making. If I’m constantly stepping away to measure out an ingredient, it leaves them alone with the batter, and we all know how much toddler and kids love to make messes, especially ooey gooey ones.

In this recipe, the one thing I don’t prepare ahead of time is the bananas. They love mashing up the bananas because again, they love the ooey gooey stuff.

I cannot find the pink Kitchen Aid Mixing Bowls, but found a set super similar with the grip on the bottom to keep from moving! Click here!

Cheers – MP

PS – check out the rest of the recipes by going to my Recipe page, found here!