Easy spiced banana bread

This easy banana bread is moist and full of flavour. It’s delicious served hot straight from the oven, it holds together well when toasted and is equally good cold with a smear of butter.

I seem to buy bananas a lot more often than I eat them. As a fresh fruit, we just seem to go for anything else in the fruit bowl or fridge first. I like them, they just seem to be the thing that gets passed over.

Having said that, I hate to waste food so it’s lucky then that bananas are such a forgiving fruit. They are at their best for eating when they’re mostly yellow but when speckled with brown or even fully black the sugars are at their maximum and their texture perfect to incorporate into baking.

This easy banana bread is a great way to use up a few over-ripe bananas but oaty banana pancakes, smoothies and banana breakfast muffins are also delicious options.

How to make our easy banana bread

Like most of our everyday recipes on the site our easy banana bread has 10 ingredients or less, this in turn leads to simpler and faster recipes to make and more time with family and friends enjoying the results.

This is a regular recipe in my banking rotation because it is so versatile and because I make it so often there are several shortcuts you can take based on what equipment you have on hand.

There are several ways you can cream the butter and sugar then incorporate the egg and vanilla. If you have a stand mixer or a hand mixer they will both work equally well. If you don’t then you can do it perfectly well by hand, grab a fork and with a little bit of an arm workout you can mix it up in a couple of minutes.

While I generally sift dry ingredients it’s not strictly necessary in this recipe. Commercially made flours are generally triple sifted and if stored well they should remain soft and separated in your cupboard.

Once the batter is recipe you’ll want to cook it in a loaf tin. I recommend greasing the tin, use a cooking spray if you prefer but also line it with a sling of baking paper. This just makes it even easier to lift out of the tin while still hot to cool on a wire rack without it breaking.

Once you have the batter in the pan smooth the top off relatively flat and stud the top with nuts if you like them. It then goes into an oven heated to 180 Celcius for 55 minutes. It’s a relatively long bake but the loaf comes out deliciously moist. If you think your oven is running a bit hot and it might be ready early just insert a toothpick a couple of times and check it comes out clean if it does you are ready to remove it from the oven.

Easy Banana Bread

Yield: 12 slices

This easy banana bread is moist and full of flavour. It's delicious served hot straight from the oven, when toasted or cold with a smear of butter.

Ingredients

• 125g butter
• 1 cup of sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 medium bananas
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence or paste

Instructions

1. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until smooth and pale.

2. Beat in eggs and vanilla

3. Break banana into the mix and mash with a fork until well incorporated. Having small lumps of banana is good in the final loaf, it doesn't need to be smooth but it does want to be mixed thoroughly.

4. Sift in the flour, baking soda, spices and salt.

5. Mix with a spatula until fully incorporated but don't over mix at this stage.

6. Prepare a loaf tin by greasing and lining with a baking paper sling.

7. Pour batter into the prepared loaf tin and bake at 180 celsius for 55 minutes.

8. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Notes

• The baking paper 'sling' overlaps the sides of the tin slightly and helps to lift the loaf out easily and get it onto the rack without breaking
• I sometimes stud the top of the loaf with walnut as you can see in some of the photos. Nut pieces can also be added into the batter if you prefer but it is entirely optional.
• To check the loaf is fully cooked stick a toothpick into the centre in a couple of places, if it comes out clean then it is ready
• Most loaf tins will work as long as they are greased and lined, I use both a pyrex one and a non-stick metal pan.
• Store leftover banana bread in the fridge for up to a week

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 236Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 53mgSodium: 273mgCarbohydrates: 36gFiber: 1gSugar: 20gProtein: 3g

I'm neither a nutritionist nor a mathematician so I use a service to calculate this nutrition information. Please use it as a guide only.

Cuisine: Australian / Category: Baking

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