Easy Banana Bread Recipe

This banana bread recipe is very easy to make and creates low-fat, versatile, and moist banana bread loaves.

The great thing about making banana bread is that you can make a batch, eat some now, freeze some for later. It's a pleasant surprise when you can take a homemade banana bread loaf with you to a friend's house or for a breakfast meeting.

To make the best banana bread you've ever attempted, consider the following tips when making banana bread.

First, use only very ripe bananas. This means the bananas that are speckled with brown spots or completely brown. The green or yellow bananas will not produce the same sweet flavor in the bread. If you don't have time to make banana bread the day that your bananas have gone too ripe, simply peel the bananas and freeze them in an air tight container until you're ready to bake banana bread. Many recipes suggest two bananas per loaf, but for very moist banana bread, use three bananas per loaf whenever possible.

Second, there's no need to add butter and oil since this recipe uses applesauce to replace these high-calorie ingredients. This helps make the bread low-fat and moist too. When buying applesauce, organic unsweetened is your best choice. If organic is not available, choose unaltered applesauce (no cinnamon, no sugar, no corn syrup, etc.).

Third, consider using a higher grade whole wheat flour instead of white flour. Look on the package label for fiber. Most of the white flour sold in grocery stores have stripped the flour of all its nutrients. In most cases, many flours on the grocery store shelves offer 0 to 1 gram of fiber. Even though it's more expensive, whole wheat flour with 3 to 5 grams of fiber is healthier for you and will make bread taste better. Choose organic if possible.

Easy Banana Bread Recipe
Yield: 2 loaves or 4 mini loaves
My preference is to use the mini loaf pans because

1. I have 4 loafs that I can freeze instead of 2
2. The banana bread cooks in less time saving time and money
3. The banana bread comes out more moist since it doesn't need to cook through a lot of batter.

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs (or 8 egg whites for low fat / low cholesterol version)
• 2 cups sugar (or 1 cup Splenda and 1 cup sugar; or 1 cup sugar and 1 cup honey)
• 6 mashed bananas
• 2 cups applesauce
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 4 cups flour

1. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients in the order listed.
2. Optional Ingredients: (Add these ingredients as you wish)
   1/2 cup raisins 1 cup chopped walnuts
   1 cup chocolate chips
   Fold the optional ingredients into the batter.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour batter into greased loaf pans.

• If baking two loaves, baking time is about an hour
• If baking four mini loaves, baking time is about 40-45 minutes
• If you choose to bake the batter into muffin pans, baking time is 30-35 minutes. Take special care to check on banana bread muffins during cooking. These tend to be less forgiving if overcooked.

Determine if banana bread is done by inserting a knife into the center. If knife is dry when you pull out, the banana bread is done.

Let cool. Freeze the banana bread you won't eat today. Just keep it in an air tight container in the freezer.

Enjoy!