I've had this bunch of bananas sitting on my counter all week. They were so ripe and ready to bake with. I just didn't know what I wanted to make. I wasn't in the mood to make muffins because I already had a bunch in the freezer. I was thinking some kind of banana bread would be good so I went searching for a recipe. The problem with banana bread recipes is that most contain nuts. I can't stand nuts in my bread. I've never really enjoyed them that much, not even in ice cream or chocolate. I was flipping through my Pampered Chef cook book and came upon this recipe. It sounded like a nice Springtime bread and contained NO nuts. I was sold. It smelled soooo good while cooking I couldn't wait for a taste. I wasn't disappointed. This moist, fruit-filled breakfast/brunch bread tastes heavenly fresh from the oven, but it also could freeze beautifully to serve later on. The recipe called for all-purpose flour but I used my favorite whole wheat white flour and it worked beautifully. You could probably do half and half too if you wanted. Also, I found that the 1/3 cup of orange juice called for in the original wasn't enough, the batter was way stiff. I just added a little more juice tablespoon at a time, trying to to stir too much, till I felt it was right.


Banana-Orange Muffin Bread
Recipe Source Pampered Chef adapted slightly

2 cups all-purpose flour or whole wheat white flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium)
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tsp orange zest
1/3-1/2 cup orange juice

Preheat oven to 400 F. Spray bottom of loaf pan with cooking spray. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in medium sized bowl. In a separate bowl, mash the bananas; add eggs, butter, orange zest and  1/3 cup of the juice; mix well. If mixture seems too stiff add in more juice a couple of tablespoons at a time until desired consistency. Add banana mixture to dry ingredients; mix just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

*For best results, cool the bread in the loaf pan on cooling rack for 10 minutes. Then loosen the sides of bread from pan with knife and turn the loaf out onto the cooling rack.

*To freeze the baked loaf, wrap the cooled loaf in foil, and place in a plastic bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. Let stand at room temperature to thaw.