"Mad as a Hatter" Banana Bread
Do you get it? The Mad Hatter was “bonkers” = the Mad Hatter was “bananas.” Maybe it’s a long shot but you know I love Alice in Wonderland! ANYWAYS…
Are you under the weather from all of this rain and seasonal allergies?
Do you have an unusual amount of bananas and they are ripening faster than you can eat them?
Do you have an Easter event to go to but nothing to bring?
Are your backyard birds eating you out of house and home by emptying your bird feeders within two days of being filled?
Or do you just really like banana bread?
I answered “Yes!” to most of these questions so, I decided to take action and make something yummy! Honestly, I have been eating WAY too many sweets and carbs lately but what’s a girl to do when her bananas are too ripe and her backyard birds aren’t giving her a break from filling feeders?
This recipe originated from a blog called Live Well Bake Often, which I mean, should be my life motto, but Danielle has a gorgeous website and with tons of different baked goods recipes so go check her out! As always with my recipes, I like to use what I already have on hand so my recipe is ever so slightly different and I will mention my adjustments below.
Let’s get baking!!!
What You Will Need:
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon of salt
The original recipe calls for ½ teaspoon of salt and unsalted butter but I did not have unsalted butter so I halved the amount of salt.
½ butter softened
Again, the original recipe calls for unsalted butter but I only had regular sticks of butter.
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups mashed bananas, approximately 4 bananas (which is what I did)
½ cup chopped and mixed walnuts and hazelnuts
I didn’t have enough walnuts to have that be the only nut in the recipe so I added hazelnuts.
A super cute Easter spatula (optional)
What Ya Gotta Do:
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9x5 loaf pan (or muffin tins, whichever you choose) with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix your flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
3. Use a mixer to cream together your softened butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. We aren’t fancy enough, yet, for a stand mixer so I used a hand mixer and it worked fine.
4. Mix your eggs into the butter mixture one at a time and then mix in the vanilla.
5. Mash your bananas in a separate bowl and mix them into your wet ingredients bowl. You can mash your bananas however you want be it with a potato masher, your hands, or a mixer. I used a potato masher because I am civilized enough sometimes to not use my hands but I have to admit, it probably would have been pretty fun.
*Make sure you wash your hands if you choose to mash your bananas like a barbarian!
6. Add your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and be sure not to over mix.
7. Stir the chopped nuts into the batter with your cute Easter spatula. Pour the batter into your prepared bread pan and put in the oven.
8. Bake for 55-65 minutes. Let cool before serving. I had to bake mine for the full 65 minutes and at about 45 minutes, I noticed that the edges were pretty much done but the center was raw so I covered it in foil.
9. Enjoy!!
I’m not sure if I’ve ever baked something this beautiful before but I think it came out great! This recipe would be a hit at any Easter event you might have going on this upcoming weekend. The bread was also absolutely delicious and it made my husband go bananas that he wasn’t here to try it straight out of the oven (Pun 100% intended). If you try this recipe, be sure to post pictures below, let me know how it turned out for you and what adjustments you made, if any!
