The Banana Bread Experiment...

You know how it is when you get a new piece of kitchen equipment... you can't wait to try it out, see how it behaves and learn it's little intimate secrets. It was that way last week when I got myself a couple of new 8 cup mini loaf baking pans from I.A.M. & Co, and they were just beckoning me to do something sweet and familiar, and I chose none other than my banana bread recipe. Now, I have two ways of making this. One is with milk and the other is without, but I promise you that both are winners. The milk free one got to christen one of the pans first, and I can't wait to share how everything came together...

I peeled four ripe bananas and went old school on them with my potato masher. Kept it slightly lumpy since I didn't want them to turn into paste.

Next, I measured out 1/3 cup of soft butter and melted it in the microwave. (You could do it on your stove-top as well if like.)

Then, I beat one egg until just frothy and set it aside.

Poured the melted butter into the mashed banana and mixed it in thorouhgly.

Measured out 3/4 cup of brown sugar, but ended up just using the 1/2 cup instead - remember, the bananas are already sweet. (Gave it a good mix.)

In went the beaten egg, 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence, a shake of cinnamon and a shake of nutmeg, followed by another good mix to blend everything in. After that, I added a pinch of salt and 1 teaspoon of baking soda, which will make the banana bread rise nicely.

Lastly, 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour went in. I slowly mixed it with my whisk, then used the spatula to scrape and grab whatever flour  was sticking to the bottom of the mixing bowl. Now nicely mixed, my batter was waiting to get into that lovely new pan!

My pan was sprayed with cooking spray...

And then I poured the batter in. Looks pretty good in there, doesn't it? Then I popped them in the oven at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes until they looked golden and passed the skewer test successfully.

All done, my banana breads look so beautiful! (And you can even see the little chunks of banana in there.)

They look just like little golden banana pillows, don't they? (Come to think of it, they are about the size of a cell phone too, lol!)

So there you have it. Perfectly baked banana bread using just one egg, lots of flavour and minus the milk. Now if you wanted to bake this in a regular 8 1/2 x 4 inch or 9 x 4 inch loaf pan, you can. The baking time may go to 40 minutes tops, but still watch them closely after 35 minutes. Once they're done, let them cool in the pan for about  5 to 8 minutes, then remove them and put them on a cooling rack so the bottoms don't get damp due to condensation.

Needless to say, they didn't last very long... at least I got to taste one! Hahahahaa!

Anyway, folks, you take care of yourselves until my next kitchen adventure, okay? And, like I always say, don't forget to mind the pot!