Going Bananas

Another weekend is over? Each day, week, month goes by so quickly. I was talking to the boyfriend this weekend about how quickly the years have gone by. I mean, in three years, I will be going to my high school's ten year reunion! What happened? I still remember high school like it was yesterday but somehow I have gone through four years of university, plus another two years in Sweden getting my master's, and now I've lived in Copenhagen for almost a year. Crazy.

But back to our weekend, it was great! The sun was shining, we had dinner with some friends on Friday night before going to see a band that they like, Rumor Said Fire, play at a campus party at Copenhagen University. Saturday was spent hanging out with my friend H at her table at a flea market and having ice cream and sitting at a cafe by the lake with I. On Sunday morning I baked a loaf of Smitten Kitchen's Jacked Up Banana Bread for breakfast. The boyfriend and I went into the city to do a little more shopping for some new work clothes for him and spent the rest of our afternoon doing important things such as Danish homework (ha!). And the grand finale to our weekend, the boyfriend's favorite dessert (tied with abemad/fruit salad with cream) - banana "ice cream"!

I am now sharing my third banana bread/cake recipe with you! When I took this loaf of banana bread out of the oven yesterday, I thought it would be dry. The crust looked really dark and there really wasn't much liquid in the recipe. It was delicious when we had it warm yesterday with some butter. I was a little skeptical this morning when I had a slice of the banana bread but it was still incredibly moist. I also really like the addition of spices in Smitten Kitchen's recipe, but it might not be for everyone if you don't like strong spices. I just love bananas and can always have more banana bread!

Jacked Up Banana Bread (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
Makes one loaf

3 to 4 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup or 75g salted butter, melted
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp bourbon (optional, I did not add this as we didn't have this at home)
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
pinch of ground gloves (again, did not have this at home so I skipped it)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 350F/175C. Line a bread pan with baking paper or grease it well.

With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, vanilla and bourbon, followed by the spices. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the two flours last and mix until incorporated.

Pour mixture into the pan and bake. Check the loaf at 40 minutes and take it out if it is ready or keep baking until a tester comes out clean. Cool on a rack and then slice and serve!

Happy Monday!