3 - medium overripe bananas
1/3 cup - organic granulated sugar
1/3 cup - organic brown sugar
1/3 cup - canola oil (or your favorite baking oil)
2 tsps - vanilla extract
2 cups - all-purpose flour
1 tsp - baking soda
1 tsp - ground cinnamon
1 tsp - salt
1 cup - chopped walnuts (or pecans, vegan chocolate chips, or your favorite banana bread stir
For Topping
1/4 cup - organic brown sugar
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Lightly oil a 9-inch loaf pan and arrange a strip of parchment paper width-wise along the center, with just a bit hanging out over each side.
- Peel the bananas and place them into a large mixing bowl. Mash them well with a fork or potato masher.
- Add sugar, brown sugar, oil, and vanilla to the bowl. Stir until well-mixed.
- Add the flour to the bowl, then sprinkle the baking soda, cinnamon and salt on top of the flour.
- Stir everything together just until mixed. Don't overmix. The batter will be thick.
- Fold in the walnuts.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth out the top with the back of a spoon.
- Sprinkle the top with brown sugar.
- Bake for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove the pan from the oven and transfer it to a cooling rack. Allow the loaf to cool for at least 15 minutes before removing it from the pan.
- Slice and serve.
- Be sure to use overripe bananas for this. They should have lots of brown spots — the more the better!
- If you have overripe bananas but aren’t ready to make banana bread, just freeze them! Peel them, seal them up in freezer bags, then thaw when you’re ready to bake.
- Whatever you do, don’t overmix the batter! You want to stir just until the wet and dry ingredients are mixed, and no more. Mixing too much will overdevelop the gluten, making your bread tough.
- HELP! My bread didn’t rise! Usually old baking soda is the culprit. Test yours by sprinkling it in some vinegar. It should fizz. If not, toss and replace it.
- Can this bread be made gluten-free? I’m not sure! I think your best bet would be to replace the flour with an all-purpose gluten-free blend.