Banana Bread

When I was a little girl, my grandpa went through a phase when he wanted to cook a lot. One of the things he made all the time were all different kinds of tasty fruit and vegetable breads. Banana bread, pumpkin bread, zucchini bread... mmm. My mom and I used to make banana bread together, and I think I purposely buy bananas I'm not really going to eat so that when they turn brown I have an excuse to make some banana bread. Gotta do something with those bananas, right?


I play with the recipe a bit. I like to add things or swap things out. This time it came out really well.


Banana Bread
2 cups flour
1/4 cup hazelnut flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup applesauce
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
4 browning bananas, mashed
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts


Preheat oven to 350° and butter the inside of a bread pan.
Mix the flours, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg and set aside. Combine the butter, applesauce, and sugars together and beat until smooth. Beat in the eggs. Add in the bananas and lemon juice. Stir in the flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time. Stir in the raisins and walnuts. Pour batter into the bread pan and bake for 1 hour. Reduce heat to 325° and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool before slicing it up.