Cranberry Raisin Almond Banana Bread
Here’s another banana bread recipe. Like the one I posted the other day, this banana bread kicks things up a notch with some great mix-ins. I hadn’t planned on using raisins and crans, but I didn’t have enough crans for the recipe, so I went with a combination of the two. It added great color and flavor to use both.
I really enjoyed the almond and banana combination. By using almond extract, there was a great almond scent to the bread, and of course the chopped almonds helped to enhance the almond flavor while also adding texture to the bread.
This bread came out pretty dense, I think due to all the add ins and the fact that I used white whole wheat flour in the bread. This bread made a great breakfast for me and Hubby for quite a few days. And, of course, it also freezes really well.
I always toast nuts that I use in any recipe. Toasting them really brings out their nutty flavor. I usually toast them in a skillet on medium heat for just a few minutes until they become fragrant.
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Cranberry Raisin Almond Banana Bread
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup mashed banana (2 medium bananas)
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup almonds, toasted and chopped
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup raisins
Directions:
Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 -inch loaf pan.
Mix sugar and butter together in a medium mixing bowl until completely blended.
Add banana, milk, eggs, and almond extract, mixing well.
Add dry ingredients, mixing just until moist.
Stir in almonds, dried cranberries, and raisins. Spread batter evenly in a loaf pan.
Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool.
Recipe adapted from Ocean Spray, as seen on Sweet and Savory Tooth
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I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Looks delicious! Goat cheese & fig is a timeless flavor combination :).
Everything about these cute little bites looks amazing. I’m dreaming about all the wonderful flavors as I type right now.
Wandered over here from the Indecisive Baker blog and love it. Looking forward to reading more of your blog posts.
I love everything about this recipe!
I love ANYTHING with caramelized onion! And I’m so excited to cook with figs 🙂 These look awesome!
Sues
Figs, goat cheese and caramelized onions? Three of my favorite ingredients!
So you lost your fresh fig virginity! See, that wasn’t so bad! jk 🙂 I hope fresh fig season doesn’t fly by too quickly, I have some ideas I’d like to get to before they go away!
These look both beautiful and delicious! A great appetizer recipe to impress guests.
Beautiful combo of ingredients. I love this kind of snack!
As soon as I saw goat cheese I knew I would love these! Yum!
sounds like a nice combination of flavors
I just found all these goat cheese recipes and fainted.
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I made this for a party this past weekend and it was a huge hit! Although, I did notice the fig flavor was almost non-existent. I couldn’t find black mission figs in the markets, so I used green. I think green figs are much more bland than black mission figs, so I wouldn’t recommend making this dish unless you can find black figs.