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Mini Organic Banana Bread Recipe

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Banana Bread Recipe
 
My mother was a good cook. I take that back. “Ma”, as we lovingly called her, was a fantastic cook, baker, homemaker, & mother. What’s more is that she rarely used a recipe when baking and knew her tried and true recipes by heart. 
 
Heart. It’s what she put into each and every one of our meals and desserts. I am forever grateful to have had a mother that truly loved her kitchen, her recipes, and her family. 
 
So, in honor of Ma, I’m going to publish some of her recipes that I love and still use constantly, but with my own take. By substituting an ingredient to two or changing the baking pan style, It’s my plan to show you that, with a fantastic basic batter recipe, you can add or subtract and suit it to your style or taste.  If I can do it, you can do it. 
 
Instead of her famous banana bread, I’m going to show how easy it is to bake banana bread minis with organic bananas.

Banana Bread Minis Ingredients

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Dry Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 Cups AP Flour
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup shortening
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup mashed organic banana (I used 3 large organic bananas)
 
Banana Bread Recipe mini loaf pan

After you preheat your oven, lightly spray your mini loaf pan with cooking spray. I used baking spray with flour added and it worked perfectly. My mother would have said to dip a bit of wax paper into the shortening container and rub it around. If you don’t mind a little elbow grease, feel free to grease the pan that way.

Banana Bread Recipe ingredients

Add all of the dry ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl and set it aside.

Banana Bread Recipe adding the flour
 
Don’t forget to fluff up the flour in your canister first. I use a knife or spatula to level out the ingredients in my measuring cups. 
Banana Bread Recipe organic bananas
Ok, organic bananas at the ready. I peeled three large, organic bananas and plopped them into my Kitchen Aid mixer. Here’s my “Ma” tip: No mixer, no problem. After you peel the bananas, place them on a cutting board and mash them with a fork. Easy peasy. Note: bananas work best in this recipe when they’re over ripe. You know when you look at a bunch of bananas and think they won’t last another day? That’s the day to use them.
Banana Bread Recipe peel bananas from the end

Tip: Peel the bananas from the bottom end. Not only is it much easier to break the skin, but there’s far less of those pesky banana strings to deal with.

Banana Bread Recipe mash bananas

Using the paddle attachment, beat the bananas on medium for about a minute until they become banana mush. It’s okay if you have some chunky bits left. They will bake right in. next, add in the rest of the wet ingredients to the bananas.

Banana Bread Recipe add shortening
I used shortening in my recipe. Feel free to use a healthier option.
Banana Bread Recipe add eggs
Add the eggs last and mix on low until just combined.
Banana Bread Recipe mix until combined

That bowl of dry ingredients that you’ve been worried about knocking over? Let’s put it to use. Add the dry ingredients 1/3 at a time to the wet mixture. I mixed on low speed as I really didn’t feel like a face full of flour.

Banana Bread Recipe finished batter
 
Once again, mix until just combined. The batter should look like this. It will probably be a bit chunky. 
Banana Bread Recipe separate batter into 8 mini loaves
 
Add the batter to the mini loaf pans until it hits half way up the pan. It may look like too little batter in the pans, but don’t fret. The batter rises while cooking. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. After 30 minutes, I began checking the pans and adding 5 minutes onto the timer. It took 40 minutes for mine to look golden and gorgeous. 

 

Banana Bread Recipe bake for 40 minutes
 
Resist the urge to pull the mini loaves out of the pans right away. Let them sit for 5-10 minutes. 
Banana Bread Recipe cool and cut
 
After 10 minutes, gently lift the leaves out of the pans and tip them on their sides to cool the bottoms. I used a clean tea towel to sit them on. After 20 minutes or so, you can dive in. A little honey butter on top? I’m talking banana bread heaven! Keeping them around is a bit more of a challenge, but if you do have any left, I always wrap them in wax paper and tin foil and shove them into the freezer. They thaw in a snap and keep their flavor and texture for a month or so. 
 
If you like adding nuts to yours, chop up a handful of your favorites and add them to the finished batter. if you want to make one solo bread, the recipe is exactly the same. Baking time increases to 60-65 minutes. 
 
So there you have it. I love this recipe and hope you give it a try.