Banana Bread Throw Down (Recipes)

Recently we had some bananas that had to have something done with them NOW.

Everyone knows that black bananas mean it is time to bake banana bread.  But we wanted to do things a bit differently so I started perusing recipes on the internet.

I found two that looked interesting.  On Martha Stewart's site there was a recipe that used sour cream and on All Recipes site was one that used brown sugar rather than white sugar.

Which one to pick?  Why not BOTH?

When both were made and the pans filled, there was a little too much leftover from both recipes.  With a shrug we dumped them together to get a third loaf.

We did a side by side taste test of the original two recipes.

The Winner: 

All Recipes!

It had over twice the amount of bananas giving it a real banana taste.  Martha's was pretty bland.  The mixed recipe loaf came out tasting better than Martha's too.

Here are the recipes for both.

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Banana Bread from Martha Stewart

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature, plus more for pan

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup mashed very ripe bananas

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan; set aside. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat to incorporate.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture and mix until just combined. Add bananas, sour cream, and vanilla; mix to combine. Stir in nuts and pour into prepared pan.

3. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool.

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Banana Bread from All Recipes (Our Winner)

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

 1 teaspoon baking soda

 1/4 teaspoon salt

 1/2 cup butter

 3/4 cup brown sugar

 2 eggs, beaten

 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. 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.

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.