So yesterday morning found me in the quest of a goodie with cinnamon and sugar. An overripe banana looking at me wistfully provided the answer - Bake a banana bread and top it with this mixture of my dreams! I got right to it... and I am very happy to report that this weekend's baking attempt was way more successful than last weekends. And yes I did recreate the cinnamon-sugary delightfulness. It was the perfect way to start the weekend!
Crunchy topped Banana bread
Notes: I used this Banana bread recipe from Cooking Light with a few modifications which included using half cup sugar and one-fourth cup honey in place of one cup sugar. I used another one-fourth cup of brown sugar for the topping. I also omitted salt since I was using salted butter.
Ingredients:
2 cups Unbleached All-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup butter, softened (I used Smart Balance)
2 eggs
1 & 1/2 cups mashed bananas (3 medium ripe bananas)
1/3 cup plain non-fat yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the topping:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1 & 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Combine flour and baking soda in a bowl and mix together with a whisk.
- Place sugar and butter in a large bowl and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well combined (around 1 minute).
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add banana, yogurt, honey and vanilla and beat until blended.
- Add flour mixture and beat at low speed until well combined and moist.
- Spoon the batter into a 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan coated with butter or cooking spray.
- For the topping, mix all the ingredients together and then sprinkle on top of the batter in the loaf pan, covering it evenly.
- Bake in a 350F oven for around an hour or till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool ten minutes in pan on a wire rack. Remove from the pan and cool completely.
Makes one loaf and a very happy baker!
