The Banana Bread Bake Off

Who’s the leader of the bunch that’s tasty as can be? B-A-N-A-N-A B-R-E-A-D. Hey there, hi there, ho there our tummies are as full as can be. B-A-N-A-N-A B-R-E-A-D. Banana Bread-Which one was best? Banana Bread. Who passed the test? Forever lets us have our bananas ripe. Come along and read along and eat some tasty bread. B-A-N-A-N-A B-R-E-A-D.

Now it’s time to say good bye to all our bread baking…B-A-N (now that was really tasty), A-N-A (ate every crumb), B-R-E-A-D.

(See the bottom for the final results)

Twins Tables is very fond of banana bread. We aren't sure where the obsession comes from, but it haunts the two of us. We are constantly looking at recipes, trying new recipes, making breads, muffins, and our family favorite, cake (see blog below) all out of bananas. So you can imagine our delight as we discovered an article on CookingLight.com all about creative recipes for our beloved bread. It took us about two seconds to agree...we had to take these recipe foundations* and....try them all. So we are beginning the banana bread bake off. We started with the classic banana bread recipe, and are going to work our way through the list. We've even added a full of fat family recipe on at the end to compare. With salivating anticipation, we hope you will enjoy following along in our journey.
*Click on the recipe titles to find the original recipes.

Competing Banana Breads Include:
Classic Banana Bread - courtesy of Cooking Light
Coconut Banana Bread- courtesy of Cooking Light
Blueberry-Lemon Banana Bread - courtesy of Cooking Light
Cardamom Banana Bread - courtesy of Cooking Light
Molasses-Oat Banana Bread - courtesy of Cooking Light
Marbled Chocolate Banana Bread - courtesy of Cooking Light
Orange Banana Bread - courtesy of Cooking Light
Jamaican Banana Bread - courtesy of Cooking Light
Grandma Blanche's Banana Bread - courtesy of the Lingbloom's


Bread #1:
The Cooking Light Classic Banana Bread
April 28th, 2007

A good of place as any to start, this classic version of banana bread is low-fat, but not low taste. Full of flavor and moist, we found it very good. Since we were out of yogurt, we substituted low-fat sour cream. It turned out delicious as the little bit of tang from the sour cream went beautifully with the classic banana taste. Surprisingly it even got better with age, and was fantastic both cold from the refrigerator and warmed. Any way you slice it, this recipe is a winner.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt or sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Bread #2:
Coconut Banana Bread
May 8th, 2007

For the second round of the banana bread bake off, Twin Tables made a version of Cooking Light's Coconut Banana Bread. The original recipe called for a lime glaze that we opted to leave off at first. Being that coconut is one of favorite flavors, we feared the lime may dominate the taste. However, we found that the cake needed that extra punch of lime after all. We rewarmed the cake poured the glaze over. It was very good, and a totally unique way to enjoy banana bread. You could really taste the rum and feel the coconut. Definitely a delicious treat completely different than the classic.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/4 cup light sour cream
3 tablespoons dark rum
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray.

Lightly spoon the flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk to combine.

Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, sour cream, rum, and vanilla; beat until blended. Turn the speed to low and add the flour mixture; mix just until moist. Stir in coconut.

Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Combine powdered sugar and juice, stirring with a whisk; drizzle over warm bread. Cool bread completely.


Bread #3:
Blueberry-Lemon Banana Bread
May 23rd, 2007

The third banana bread to compete in the bake off was blueberry-lemon. A bread with all the potential to be great, but one that seriously disappointed. Blueberry and lemon is a classic combination, but Twin Tables is in total agreement, the combination is not meant for banana bread. The flavors compete with each other instead of compliment. The result is a bread with no flavor whatsoever. It seems that the flavors just cancel each other out. You can't taste any one ingredient, and you definitely cannot tell you are eating banana bread, kind of the point of this whole exercise. What was there was an acidic, yet moist, bread with no flavor. The recipe did call for a cream cheese frosting that we left off, but we don't feel this would have improved the bread at all. So a good idea for a bread, but one that just doesn't work for us. But please, feel free to discover for yourself.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2 bananas)
2 eggs
1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare the banana bread, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk to combine.

Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until mixture is well blended (about 1 minute). Add mashed banana, egg substitute, sour cream, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Gently fold in blueberries and lemon rind. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool the bread 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove the bread from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.


Bread #4
Cardamom Banana Bread
June 2nd, 2007

Round 4 of the banana bread bake-off was a big one for Twin Tables. Being Norwegian, cardamom is flavor we were raised upon and adore. This was one bread we were really looking forward to tasting. So Saturday we put on our aprons, pulled out the Norwegian flag and got to baking. The batter (that you are not supposed to eat raw) was very delicious, but lacked a punch of cardamom, so we ended up adding another 1/4 teaspoon. The bread baked, cooled, and we ate. The result? The texture, really soft, moist, almost cake-like. You could really smell the cardamom, but unfortunately it wasn't really discernible when eaten. We don't know if banana bread is the right medium for cardamom, as maybe it would be better in a citrus bread or scone. However, the bread is very good and recommended. This might be one recipe we play around with to make the flavor of cardamom pop. Easy and delicious, this recipe is one to keep around.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/3 cup finely chopped pistachios*
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place sugars and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, sour cream, and cardamom; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Stir in pistachios. Spoon batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool bread completely on wire rack.
*The original recipe called for pistachios, but we are not big nut eaters and decided to leave them out.


Bread #5
Molasses-Oat Banana Bread
June 17th, 2007

For Father's Day, Twin Tables decided to test out our fifth banana bread in the banana bread bake-off. Today was the Molasses Oatmeal Banana Bread. This was outstanding. The combination of ingredients produced a moist and perfectly flavor balanced bread. At first taste you are assaulted with the banana flavor and as you chew, the molasses comes through very nicely without overpowering the bread. The oats add a very pleasing texture along with an added taste boost. All five senses were happy with this bread; it smelled divine, looked delicious, felt great on the tongue, tasted very good and the ears heard the "mmm's" as it was being devoured. Try this one. You will enjoy it!

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup regular oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup dark molasses
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2 bananas)
1/3 cup plain fat free yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place sugar, butter, and molasses in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Bread#6
Marbled Chocolate Banana Bread
June 24th, 2007

Chocolate and banana is a classic combination, but the question was whether the duo would work in banana bread. Would they compete or enhance the banana bread experience? Well, our latest taste test is complete and we are here to say that the combination works really well. The marblization is nice because it allows you to taste the classic banana bread flavor or the chocolate flavor with the essence of banana depending on which bite you take. Our only complaint was that the bread did not turn out as moist as the others. It was good, but not stellar. We can't help but wonder if sour cream would work better in this bread rather than yogurt. The sour cream may add an extra umph to accentuate the flavors and keep the chocolate from drying the bread out so much. We may have to try that next time. We also think that peanuts would be a lovely addition to this bread and make it like a warm version of a chocolate dipped banana. YUM. Very good, and a great one to have on hand for the chocolate lovers.

I only made a couple changes to the original recipe. I used two eggs instead of egg substitue and fat free yogurt in place of the lowfat as these were the ingredients I had on hand.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
2 eggs
1/3 cup plain fat free yogurt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add banana, eggs, and yogurt; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist.

Place chocolate chips in a medium microwave-safe bowl, and microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until almost melted, stirring until smooth. Cool slightly. Add 1 cup batter to chocolate, stirring until well combined. Spoon chocolate batter alternately with plain batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Swirl batters together using a knife. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Bread #7
Orange Banana Bread
July 2nd 2007

The seventh bread to be tasted in the Twin Tables banana bread bake off is Cooking Light's Orange Banana Bread. We have been rather excited about this bread, Melissa maybe a little more than Denise, but these two flavors pair beautifully in most instances, and we could hardly wait to taste. The scent of the bread right out of the oven, and then when cooled and sliced was enough to tempt the non banana bread eaters (if there are such people). If this bread tasted half as good as it smelled, then we were sure to have a winner. And we were not disspointed. The subtle orange emphasises the banana bread flavor and creates an incredible experience on the tongue. It is like a tropical vacation for the tastebuds. The bread is incredibly moist and the perfect texture. We left out the walnuts (again, not nut eaters here), but think the addition would be lovely if you indeed liked nuts. This bread is much better at room temperature than cold as the orange flavor permiates better. We can't help but think adding a simple orange icing would make this bread a fantastic dessert. There is only one little hiccup, we now have our first major discrepancy in the bake off. Melissa puts this bread at number one, Denise number three behind the classic and the molasses-oat. It is your turn to try and discover for yourself. Either way, orange you glad we did say banana, bread that is?

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1 1/2 tablespoons grated orange rind
3 tablespoons fresh orange juice

Preheat oven to 350º.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, rind, and juice; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Bread #8
Jamaican Banana Bread
July 23rd, 2007

Ya Man! Welcome to Jamaica. When one thinks of the flavors of Jamiaca one must conjur up images of banana, rum, lime and coconut. This banana bread brought all those compontents together in a fantastic loaf. One bite and you can almost feel the ocean breeze on your face and hear a steal drum band playing off in the distance. If you can't afford to fly to Jamaica, try this bread for an instant passport to the islands. Not only does it taste delicious, it smells fantastic and it comes equipped with coconut dreds!

2 tablespoons stick margarine, softened
2 tablespoons fat-free cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt 1 cup mashed ripe banana
1/2 cup skim milk
2 tablespoons dark rum
1/2 teaspoon grated lime rind
2 teaspoons lime juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup flaked sweetened coconut

1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons margarine
2 teaspoons lime juice
2 teaspoons dark rum
2 tablespoons flaked sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 375°. Coat an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan with cooking spray; set aside.

Beat 2 tablespoons margarine and cheese at medium speed of a mixer; add 1 cup sugar, beating well. Add egg; beat well.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; stir well. Combine banana and next 5 ingredients (banana through vanilla); stir well. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with banana mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix after each addition. Stir in 1/4 cup coconut.

Pour batter into prepared pan; bake at 375° for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan. Let cool slightly on a wire rack.

Combine brown sugar and 2 teaspoons each margarine, lime juice, and rum in a saucepan; bring to a simmer. Cook 1 minute; stir constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in 2 tablespoons coconut; spoon over loaf.

Banana Bread #9
Grandma Blanche's Banana Bread

After all this time out Banana Bread Bake Off is finally complete. Apparently we were afraid to have this competition come to an end since we waited so long to complete the task but we have finally reached our goal. We saved Grandma's recipe for last because we thought it would be the best, hands down. Our hands turned up however and were accompanied by a shrug. Grandma's was good but not the best of the bunch. Grandma has so many treats that do top our list we don't think she would mind that we vote her banana bread a little bit farther down. Try Grandma's for yourself and you decide. (Deep down in our hearts we are not sure this is Grandma's recipe.)

2 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 Tbsp buttermilk
1 cup mashed bananas

Sift and measure the flour. Resift with the soda and salt.

Cream shortening and sugar until light. Add beaten eggs, buttermilk and bananas to creamed mixture. Add flour mixture, beating thouroughly.

Pour into well greased small loaf pans and bake 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees. (If making one large loaf bake for 55-60 minutes)

Melissa's Final ranking:
1. Orange Banana Bread
2. Cooking Light Classic Banana Bread
3. Molasses-Oat Banana Bread
4. Jamaican Banana Bread
5. Marbled Chocolate Banana Bread
6. Cardamom Banana Bread
7. Grandma Blanche's Banana Bread
8. Coconut Banana Bread
9. Blueberry-Lemon Banana Bread

Denise's Final ranking:
1. Cooking Light's Classic Banana Bread
2. Molasses-Oat Bread
3. Jamaican Banana Bread
4. Orange Banana Bread
5. Marbled Chocolate Banana Bread
6. Cardamom Banana Bread
7. Grandma Blanche's Banana Bread
8. Coconut Banana Bread
9. Blueberry-Lemon Banana Bread