Sunday, August 23, 2009

Mom's Banana Apple Bread


This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe was chosen by Joy of Hot Oven, Warm Heart. If you haven't already checked out her site, you should definitely make a point of doing so. Not only does she have a wonderful way with words, but she has intersting anecdotes about the history of her various recipes.

Joy chose Mom's Banana Apple Bread and I must start by saying I absolutely love banana bread. Its one of those foods that reminds me of a warm blanket on a cold day, a mother's hug, a good snuggle... comfort food! It was fitting that Joy would pick a recipe like this as she seems to be such a warm and caring person. I have to admit though, I went into this recipe a little biased. My dad makes banana bread all the time and I typically use his recipe. I tried a couple other recipes, but always come back to the one he makes. However, the apples seemed like a nice twist and I was intrigued by the choice of spices. I have had cinnamon in bananas foster and nutmeg in banana smoothies, but never together.


The bread is super easy to throw together. It calls for sauteeing the apples before adding them to the banana bread batter which seemed interesting to me. Anytime I have added apples to baked goods, I just throw them in, but I think you sautee them to carmelize them. When I finished mixing the ingredients, I was a little thrown off by how much batter seemed to be in the bowl. The recipe says to use a 1 1/2 quart loaf pan- I have no concept of how big a loaf pan of this size is supposed to be, but obviously the ones I have are much smaller. I doubled the recipe because I had quite a few bananas to use up and I ended up with two nine inch loaves and a bundt cake. This was fine because we had a baptism to go to on Sunday and I thought I could bring the cake to the party after.


As banana bread, I still like my dad's recipe better. I think I was anticipating more of a banana flavor, but once this bread sits for a bit, the banana and apple flavors morph into something totally but wonderfully new. I would definitely make this recipe again, but not when I am in the mood for good old fashioned banana bread. Everyone at the baptism seemed to enjoy it- it was gone before we left! My only complaint about the recipe is I think the apple slices were a little too large for the recipe. They kind of pulled the bread down if they were near the top of the batter, so my loaves looked a little lumpy. The slices also pulled away from the cake in some places. Next time I will cut the slices again in half or thirds. And again, I felt the flavor was much better the second day when the banana and apple had some time to blend. I would also like to try to make the recipe with applesauce instead of bananas for a nice fall treat when apples are in season.

Thanks for picking such a delicious recipe Joy! Another winner from from the Sweet Melissa Baking book... If you would like the recipe, you can find it on Joy's blog. And be sure to check out what the other Sweet Melissa Sundays bakers thought!

14 comments:

Nina said...

I'm glad that you kind of liked it! I really enjoyed it as well. I think that the apples added something different into the bread.

<3

Unknown said...

Your bread looks yummy! I absolutely love your idea to try this with applesauce instead of bananas. I am definitely going to give that a shot this fall :) I liked this recipe but I'm pretty sure that had a lot to do with the caramelized apples. They were my favorite!

Cristine said...

Your bread looks great!

Sarah said...

I agree - it was delicious, but not when I'll make when I'm in the mood for banana bread.

Jeannette said...

your bread looks delicious! it will be my go-to banana bread from now on. i added just a bit more mashed bananas and my banana bread tasted wonderfully of banana. maybe try adding an extra 1/8 cup.

Melissa said...

Your bread looks great! I like the powdered sugar on the cake, so pretty.

k.a.r.e.n said...

That's a whole lotta delicious bread you made!!!

Lulu the Baker said...

I love the sprinkling of powdered sugar on your bundt cake. I thought 1/2 inch slices sounded too big, so I cut mine smaller. It seemed to work out just fine.

Fit Chick said...

Someone suggested shredding the apples and I think I will try that next time. Won't use the clove but may increase the cinnamon. Your bread looks so good.

Mini Baker said...

yummm! love the addition of apples! I'll have to try this one!
Love your blog by the way :)
-Mini Baker

Joy said...

Hi Karin!

I’m sorry I didn’t have a chance to stop by and comment sooner- I’ve been really under the weather for the past two weeks, so unfortunately I haven’t been on the computer too much… but I’m glad I had the chance to read your lovely post. Thank you so much for all the beautiful compliments- you are such a sweetheart and truly made my day :) I also have to thank you for baking along with me this week- I'm really glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe! I absolutely agree, it's definitely not your every day banana bread, but that's part of the reason I love the recipe- it's an unexpected and refreshing twist on a classic. I wish I could try a slice of your Dad's version... maybe one day you'll share that family favorite with me! I totally hear you about the size of the apple chunks- I left a comment about that on the P & Q at the SMS site... after one experience baking the bread following the directions and having my apples sink to the bottom of the loaf, I adapted the recipe and cut one apple into a much finer dice while shredding the other on a box grater. The smaller chunks stay suspended in the bread, and the shredded apples sort of melts into the loaf, making it even more moist! Since you mentioned making this recipe again, you might want to try that technique and see what you think! Oh, and I'm glad it went over well at the baptism too! Your breads look absolutely delicious- fantastic job, as always!

I hope you’re doing well- have a great rest of your week! Hope to hear from you soon!

<3,
Joy

spike. said...

I love any recipe that gets better as it sits!

HanaĆ¢ said...

Your bread looks great and I love the powdered sugar sprinkle on top. I'm glad you liked it even though you liked your dad's recipe better. Definitely try chopping the apple piece smaller next time, if you didn't like the bigger chunks this time around.

Thanks for the Fair wishes. I'll try to post something on my blog once I find out how I did.

Katiecakes said...

Wow, applesauce instead of bananas? What a great idea! Will be trying that one very soon!!

Katie xox

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I would love to hear from you! E-mail me at sugarspicekitchen@yahoo.com.