This week started off with my 16th birthday, followed by the most amazing and miraculous news I have ever received, and ended with a Honduras-Costa Rica soccer game on a Friday off from school. The bad news, however, is that i have a seven-page essay due on Monday and it is creeping on my conscience. Sometimes, all I need is a little reality break and spend some time being creative in the kitchen. On Thursday afternoon, I walked into my kitchen trying to look for something to treat my sweet tooth. I found a bunch of ripe bananas and what better way is there to save them than making banana bread? So I got to work and made one of my favorite banana cupcake recipes from the one and only Martha Stewart. However, I decided to make the bread extra special and added a few almonds and raisins to her original recipe.
Ingredients:
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 ½ cups mashed bananas (about 4 ripe bananas)
- 2 large eggs
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp raisins
- 1 tbsp almonds
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Mix together flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda & salt
- In the center of the flour mixture, mix together butter, bananas, eggs, vanilla
- Stir together, add cinnamon, chopped almonds, and raisins
- Bake about 25-30 min. or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted.
- Remove from oven and wait approximately 10-15 minutes to remove it from the container you baked the bread in.
- Then, you can add cream cheese frosting (optional), Martha Stewart's honey-cinnamon frosting, or enjoy with a nice cup of warm coffee or tea
You can also make a shift to this recipe by adding 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of or along with the raisins and almonds. It's absolutely delightful.
