Peanut Butter Banana Bread

To date, I believe I've made 32 different varieties of banana bread - plain jane, tropical, boozy, chocolate, and now peanut butter. I love peanut butter and banana sandwiches, so I thought making this bread was a pretty logical thing to do. Even better was the fact that the original recipe was relatively low in calories and added sugar. I hate putting my kids into a sugar coma first thing in the morning.

My husband and boys could eat banana bread for every meal. There are times when I make a loaf expecting it to be part of breakfast for the next several days and it ends up being eaten entirely by the end of the afternoon -- small bite by small bite.

I made a few small changes to the original recipe. I used low-fat greek yogurt instead of fat-free plain (fat makes food moist and flavorful! Let's not be afraid of it!) and substituted whole wheat pastry flour for the all-purpose flour. I also reduced the amount of brown and white sugar used. The end result was hearty, moist, flavorful and lightly sweet from the bananas.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread
Adapted from Cooking Light

1 1/2  cups mashed ripe banana
1/3  cup low-fat greek yogurt
1/3  cup creamy, natural peanut butter
3  tablespoons butter, melted
2  large eggs
1/3  cup granulated sugar
1/3  cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/4  cup ground flaxseed
3/4  teaspoon baking soda
1/2  teaspoon salt
1/2  teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8  teaspoon ground allspice
2  tablespoon chopped dry-roasted peanuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottoms and side of a loaf pan.

In a large bowl, mix together bananas, greek yogurt, peanut butter, butter, eggs, and sugars. In another large bowl, mix flour, ground flax, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and allspice. Make a small well in the flour mixture and add banana mixture to the well. Stir together until just combined. Add peanuts and stir to incorporate.

Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake until top is golden and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean -- about 1 hour, 5 minutes. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.

Final thoughts: I think next time I would roast the bananas in the skin for 20 minutes or so to deepen the banana flavor. There is a lot to be said for caramelized bananas.

Enjoy!