Campus Cooking: Banana Bread

There are a couple of things that I have learned, through tough experience, NEVER to do:
1) Forget to check if I left my metal fork in the bowl I just put in the microwave.
2) Crack an egg into the batter/dough while the beater is moving.
3) Try to fold egg whites into a batter. I just can't do it.
4) Forget about the pot of boiling pasta on the stove for 2 hours until the water has evaporated and the pasta has become a charred mass at the bottom of the pot, filling the house with acrid smoke.

And last, but not least:

5) Let bananas ripen til very mushy in my small dorm room for a week, and then wonder why the room has been invaded by fruit flies. Hmmm....

(This isn't even how ripe I let them get, mine were BLACK by the time I made this bread)

.......
Despite the fruit flies, I am soo glad that I made this banana bread. I found the recipe here, with rave reviews.
But I've had my heart broken so many times by dry, tasteless banana bread that I was still skeptical as I made it.
This was ANYTHING but dry and tasteless, though! It was sooo moist and full of sweet banana flavor, complimented by a hint of cinnamon. YUMM.
My banana bread search is over. Hello, love, I have found you <3

Banana Bread Recipe
Adapted, barely, from the recipe found here.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

Crumb topping:
1/2 c all-purpose flour, minus 2 tbs

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 stick unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 tsp cinnamon
(this is an estimation, I didn't actually measure out my crumb topping stuff. I just threw together some butter, cinnamon, flour, and sugar, and mushed it all together.)
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan or a 12 muffin pan.

2.In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan (or muffin pan). Combine crumb topping ingredients in a separate bowl, mushing the butter into the flour and sugar to ensure that it is well incorporated, coating every bit of flour and sugar. Crumble or place on top of the bread.

3.Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.
 
Notes:
1) I doubled the recipe (I collected about 20 bananas from the dining hall), and it made about 12 muffins and 2 small loaves of bread (about 8 x 3 in, I think).
In my opinion, the muffins were even better than the bread!
My plan was to freeze some of the bread for later quick breakfasts, but...umm...a few late college nights later, it was all gone. Oops =)

2) I didn't make a note of how many bananas made 2 1/3 cups of bananas, but i would estimate about 4, to be safe? Also, let them ripen as much as possible! That's the way to maximize moistness and sweetness. Just beware of fruit flies!

3) I wouldn't call the cinnamon optional, it totally added another dimension to the bread, and filled the whole dorm up with a yummmmmy smell =D Same with the crumb topping - it can be left out, but it makes it reallllly good if you leave it.

4) DO NOT overmix. The bread will come out tough.


I'm going to try to make a lower-fat, maybe lower sugar version of this recipe soon, so stay tuned for that =)
MAKE THIS IF YOU LIKE BANANA BREAD!