Salaams my lovelies! It is the day before Thanksgiving and I am sure that you are all prepping for a wonderful dinner with your loved ones tomorrow. I know I am! I am planning to post a turkey and apple pie recipe inshallah (God willing) that I promise works every time (those are my mainstays and I mix things up with the sides). While everyone thinks of pumpkin pie as being synonymous with Thanksgiving dinner, I have a terrible confession to make: I hate pumpkin pie! I know, everyone loooooves those pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin pie. Well everyone but me! So when I prep for Thanksgiving dinner, my go to pie is apple pie. However, I also like to give my guests another dessert option. Since there were overly ripe bananas on my counter and cream cheese frosting (store bought) in my fridge, I decided to save myself from throwing anything away and made banana bread.
Especially around this time of year when it starts to get colder, I become mindful of giving thanks for the blessings in my life. So I make extra effort not to throw anything out in terms of food, clean out my closet of excess clothes to donate, and also try to get involved in food and toy drives. Since I am trying not to waste food, when I saw those super brown bananas, I knew I had to make banana bread versus throwing them away.
The best thing about banana bread to me is that you not only save fruit you would normally throw away, but you also have a nice warm dessert that you can share with a few special friends. PS: This is a recipe from the Food Network by Joanne Chang from the bakery Flour in Boston but I added the cream cheese frosting part to the recipe.
Ingredients
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
3 1/2 bananas, very ripe, mashed
2 tablespoons creme fraiche or sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
1 can of cream cheese frosting
Directions
Set oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of a loaf pan with parchment paper.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Beat sugar and eggs with a whisk until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Drizzle in oil. Add mashed bananas, creme fraiche, and vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients and nuts. Pour into a lined loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Allow pan to completely cool and then add cream cheese frosting.
Enjoy!
