When I was growing up, my mom regularly made the quick banana bread out of the 1968 edition of the Joy of Cooking. To this day, her copy opens directly to that recipe. It’s a serviceable enough loaf and one I’ve made many times in my own kitchen.
This banana bread isn’t that one. Made with a generous scoop fruit butter (I used pear butter in this most recent batch, but apple, peach or apricot butters would all work nicely) and sweetened with maple syrup, it offers a tender, toastable loaf that is particularly good buttered and dabbed with jam.
Maple Banana Bread
Servings: 1 Standard Loaf
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup fruit butter
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 egg
- 2 ripe bananas mashed
- 1/2 teaspoon maple extract
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts toasted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan and set aside.
- Combine butter, fruit butter, maple syrup and egg together. Beat with a wooden spoon or a hand mixer. Stir in mashed bananas and maple extract. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk the flours together with baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in thirds, each time mixing to fully integrate before adding more. Stir toasted walnuts into the batter.
- Pour batter into greased loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes, until a toothpick comes out mostly clean.
This sounds amazing — I am printing out the recipe to try with the apple butter I preserved this year!
This looks good! Think I can make it using plum butter?
I discovered your site a few months ago and last week, I finally gave in and made my first batches – fig jam, slow cooker plum butter, and your strawberry vanilla jam. This weekend, I am tackling pear lavender jam.
Thank you so much for this great site! And for inspiring me to conquer my fear of canning!
I’m sure that plum butter would be delicious!
I need to try this!
Marisa, this recipe looks really good! I love being able to incorporate preserves and butters into the foods I serve my family, especially as we have so many of them here at the house. Thanks so much for posting this.
Very timely! My husband was just telling me we need to do something with our remaining bananas.
I am going to use strawberry vanilla butter, I think.
This sounds delicious! I made standard banana bread a few nights ago. Next time we have a few ripe bananas, I’ll make this one with my own apple butter.
Your bread looks great! I’ve seen brown bread in a can before and I was excited thinking you were going to share how to can bread 🙂 Do you know if that is something that can be done at home? Just curious! Thanks!
Oh my!!! I read this post last night and went into the kitchen right away to try it. What a wonderful recipe. I doubled it because I plopped in too much apple butter ~ this is what happens when I daydream about the end product! They turned out beautifully. The texture of this loaf is unlike any banana bread I have ever eaten ~ yummy and tender. I am enjoying it right now; toasted, with a smear of mascarpone and a cup of coffee. Life is good. ;o)
I’m so glad you like it!
I am always on the lookout for banana bread recipes and this one looks delish! I’m wondering can you taste the pear butter. I’ve never used a fruit butter in baking, but I find when I use fruit purées (like applesauce) it mainly adds moisture but not taste.
You don’t taste it much, it mostly plays a part in sweetening the loaf.
This makes me think of the A to Z bread recipe. My aunt once made it with cranberry sauce and it was great. I am sure you could use any preserve, but may have to reduce sugar depending on the sweetness of what you add.
http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/breads/a-to-z-bread/
Have you tried the Banana Bread Cockaigne in the Joy of Cooking? It’s amazing.
I’ve not tried it, but I definitely will.
Any alternatives to maple extract? I know I don’t have that, and am not relishing tracking it down in my small local grocery store…TIA
The maple extract is just there to boost the flavor the syrup. However, if you don’t have it, just sub in some vanilla extract.
Awesome, thanks!
I got referred to you by another blogger, who had a wonderful recipe for making chili in a jar. She made chili, put it in a jar, and then put cornbread dough on top and baked it. I am wondering, if I bake the jar with the cornbread, then seal the lid on while hot like I do with cake in a jar, would it be good to send to Iraq or Afghanistan?
The cakes and brownies and even apple crisp I have sent have been doing great, but I am a little worried about it being Meat. ALSO, cheesecake, if I bake cheesecake in a jar and seal it, can I sent that to him, or would the cheesecake go bad being unrefrigerated for a week?
Thank you! My soldier will really appreciate it!
I have another idea for you concerning pumpkins. Every fall, I make a delicious condiment called pickled pumpkin. It’s really sweet-‘n-sour pumpkin cubes (sugar and vinegar) and it keeps for years in the jar. It’s an old, rare, Estonian recipe I picked up back in 1975. It’s also typically Finnish. If you are interested, I am willing to share the recipe with you.
I just starting canning again after years. As we speak, I have a zucchini bread in the oven, using my canned zuccini from my garden. I plan on trying my canned chunky applesauce in scones next. Let you all know how that turns out and I will send recipe then. But it sure smells really good in here…..