Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Dipped Out

I was left with a decent amount of the dip leftover from the breadstick lesson one week, but instead of tossing it away when I came in the day after, or force-feeding the kids dip for days, I walked right into my inspiration - literally. There was a giant box of well-past-sale-or-eating-point bananas on the kitchen island, with a handy Post-It note on the top:
"Sarah, use these today."
Hmm, use these I will... you didn't specify how, Marlene, but considering I know you adore the fruit, know I bake and there's a fellow staff member whose only pregnancy craving has been banana bread?? You asked for it!


Because my usual banana bread recipe didn't use anything liquidy other than the banana puree itself, I hit the Net to find a suitable base recipe. Even though the dip wasn't all-yogurt, I figured that a touch of lemon juice would help offset the baking soda, and who doesn't like strawberries and banana? I kept on with the breakfast theme by using rolled oats in the dry mix too, and if I did it again I'd even go so far as to sprinkle some crunchy granola on top!

Strawberry-Banana Oatmeal Bread
Makes 2 loaves, 14 slices each
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 banana, mashed
1 tbsp vanilla
1/2 tbsp lemon extract
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
3 1/2 cups "Sweet Fruit Dipper" recipe
  1. Grease two 9×5" loaf pans, preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Mix dry ingredients together and set aside.
  3. Beat butter and shortening in a bowl.
  4. Add sugar, eggs, banana, vanilla, lemon extract and lemon juice, beating smooth.
  5. Alternately add the dip and flour mixtures to the beaten mixture.
  6. Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.
  7. Cool 20 minutes in pans before turning onto wire racks and cooling completely.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 238.3
Total Fat: 8.5 g
Cholesterol: 32.5 mg
Sodium: 111.2 mg
Total Carbs: 36.2 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.8 g
Protein: 5.3 g

2 comments :

  1. Well done! I like how you're being challenged to improvise. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Score! I bought bananas this week. My husband makes me feel like a delinquent if I rip apart the bunches, so we always end up with too much.
    Usually use them for popsicles when they get mushy, but strawberry banana bread will be a welcome change!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for the feedback!