See the golden brown crust on the top and sides of the banana bread? I like to have that nice texture and color on the outside with moist bread on the inside. The trick I’ve learned to use is adding a little bit of crème fraîche to the batter. It is a thicker cousin of traditional sour cream and it is absolutely decadent.
The riper your banana, the sweeter it is. If you are using a few that don’t have a lot of black spots on the outside, you can add 1-2 tsp of sugar, per banana, to balance the flavor.
I generally bake banana bread on Sunday morning and then pack some leftover slices for the kids to take for morning snack at school the next couple of days. They absolutely love it and it is a wonderful, gluten-free and nut-free treat they can eat safely in the classroom. It also makes a great quick morning breakfast. Serves: 8
Ingredients
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups gluten free flour blend (such as Betty Crocker, Cup4Cup, King Arthur’s or your favorite)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3 large overripe bananas, mashed with a potato masher or fork
1/4 cup crème fraîche
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350. Coat sides and bottoms of 3 mini-loaf pans or 1 regular loaf pan with cooking spray.
- Beat butter and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with a hand held mixer on medium-high speed until very light and fluffy, about 5-7 minutes.
- Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a medium bowl.
- Reduce speed to medium. Add eggs in, one at a time, until fully incorporated, scraping the bowl in between additions and then add vanilla extract.
- Slowly add flour mixture in until just incorporated, do not over-mix.
- Stir in mashed banana and crème fraîche until evenly distributed.
- Divide batter between mini-loaf pans, slamming them on the counter a couple of times, once full, to flatten out the batter.
- Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 50-60 minutes, if using mini loaf pans or 75-85 minutes, if using a large loaf pan, until golden brown all over and cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes before removing cakes from pans and setting on a rack to cool.
- Slice when warm, not hot, and serve.
- Wrap any remaining in plastic, once cooled completely, to maintain freshness for 2-3 days.
