Banana Nut Bread (two types)

Along with cookies, banana bread is something I often found on the counter when I came home from school. I was always torn between eating it fresh from the oven with butter melting into it or waiting until the next day to dig in. The banana flavor always seemed to deepen overnight, and I like my banana bread to taste like banana.  

Since it made such a frequent appearance on our counter, I wasn’t surprised to see multiple recipes for that staple in Grandma’s box. So, faced with an abundance of brown bananas and a plethora of banana bread recipes, I decided to test two of them at once.

I picked out recipes that called for a fruit or vegetable in addition to bananas. Banana Nut Bread added a grated apple into the mix . . . 

while Whole Wheat Carrot and Banana Bread added--no surprise here--grated carrots.  

I was curious to see how each of these additions would affect the taste and texture of the bread. 

How to make Banana Nut Bread

The preparation process for both breads was similar. First, I creamed the fat (butter for one, shortening for the other) and the sugar (brown for one, white for the other).

 I added the eggs and beat the mixture well.  

The bananas and the grated apple or carrots went in next.  

The mixture looked a little curdled at this point and I realized I was supposed to have folded the carrots or apples in later. Oh well. The addition of flour would smooth things out. 

After adding a little buttermilk to the Banana Nut Bread, I sifted together the dry ingredients and gently stirred everything together with my Danish whisk. I learned in Home Ec long ago that quick bread should not be overmixed, so it seems that something I was taught as a teen sunk in.  

Grandma mentions in the recipe for Whole Wheat Carrot and Banana Bread that she added half a cup of ground mixed glazed fruit. This small note melted my heart because it was such a Grandma thing to do. I loved the thought of her adding one of her favorite ingredients just because. I only added the nuts the recipe called for. 

The recipe said to split the batter between two medium loaf pans, so I greased two 8 x 4-inch pans and added a parchment paper liner. However, spreading the batter into the pans was like applying a thin layer of glue to the bottom of the pan.  

 I doubted there would be enough batter in there to create much of a loaf, but I stuck the two pans into a 350-degree oven anyway and waited 40 minutes for vindication. 

Sure enough, the “loaves” were almost like glorified banana pancakes, short and fairly flat. 

Check out the picture of my husband’s breakfast and you’ll see that it took three slices to fill up a small plate. 

There were no baking instructions on the card for Banana Nut Bread. The card says “over,” but there’s nothing on the other side. Since the two recipes were so similar, I decided to follow the baking time and temperature for the Whole Wheat Carrot and Banana Bread. If I'd been smart, I would have baked this one in a 9 x 5-inch pan to see if I could create a heftier loaf, but I wasn't, and the Banana Nut Bread came out just as squatty. 

The Verdict

On the plus side, both breads tasted “very good” as Grandma proclaimed on one of the cards. Each slice of the Whole Wheat Carrot and Banana Bread contained pretty little slivers of orange. The carrot also added a hint of sweetness but didn’t detract from the banana flavor. 

Ironically, the Banana Nut Bread didn’t taste as strongly of banana because of the tangy shreds of apple scattered throughout each slice. This bread was particularly moist, though. Of the two, I liked Whole Wheat Carrot and Banana Bread best because of its stronger banana flavor. However, I would happily eat either of these breads for breakfast or as an after-school snack. (Not that I'd want to go back to my school days ever again.) 

I'm renaming Banana Nut Bread on the recipe card as a reminder that it has apples in it too. Click on the link below the recipe cards to try them out then tell me which one you like best.