Cinnamon Banana Bread

Happy Monday everybody! Hubby and I are on vacation in Florida this week, but have no fear, I’ve got a whole week of banana recipes scheduled for you guys while we’re away. I will be more or less unplugged for the next 9 days and I can’t wait to just spend some time getting some quality R&R with my Hubby!

I made this one day when I realized our freezer was getting overrun by the frozen over-ripe bananas in there. I searched for a recipe and doctored it up based on what I had in the kitchen.

Since I still have quite a few bags of cinnamon chips left from my trip to Hershey’s, I decided to throw those in too. The oats gave this bread a great texture and the cinnamon chips just took the flavor over the top. If you don’t have cinnamon chips, you could surely make this bread without them, but it just wouldn’t be the same.

You see that crack on the top of the bread? It was filling with a gooey cinnamon molten river due to the melting of the cinnamon chips. It’s weird that I love cracks in the tops of quick breads, but when it comes to cheesecake, I can’t stand them, even though they don’t have an impact on the flavor. I’m weird like that…

And you’ll notice that I topped the bread with more cinnamon and sugar. I sliced up the bread and wrapped each piece individually so Hubby and I could throw a piece in our lunch bag in the morning. By the time we’d get to work, it was the perfect temperature to enjoy.

The other way we enjoyed this bread was to toast it in the oven or a toaster oven until the edges were crispy. YUM!

One Year Ago: Cornish Hens with Garlic and Rosemary
Three Years Ago: Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry and Caramel Filling and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cinnamon Banana Bread

Yield: 1 loaf

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup uncooked old fashioned oats
1/2 cup cinnamon chips
1 Tbsp canola or walnut oil
2 eggs, beaten
3 large bananas, ripe (~1 cup)
cinnamon sugar to sprinkle on top

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a loaf pan and set aside. In a large bowl, stir together dry (first 8) ingredients.

In a smaller bowl, mash bananas with a potato masher or fork. Add oil and eggs and mix thoroughly.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well.

Pour batter into pan and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake until top of loaf is firm to touch, 45 to 50 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Flip out and cool on a wire rack for another 10 minutes.

Recipe adapted from Joy the Baker

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