Julia’s
Maui Banana Bread
This recipe comes with a little
story. In 2016, we flew to Hawaii for
our 30th anniversary. We
visited the Big Island, then Kauai, then Maui (Kauai was our fave). As we drove
around the islands, there would be little banana huts at the ends of driveways
where people would sell their excess bananas, leaving out a little cash box…an
honor system. What a lovely thing! And
then some of these huts would also have homemade banana bread for sale as well. Rarely could we pass that up, so we became
quite the connoisseurs of homemade banana bread. One loaf was over-the-top delicious, and I
had to look up the recipe. The loaf AND
recipe was from ‘Julia’s Treehouse’ on the northwest
corner of the island.
Instead of one large loaf, I
make 3 mini loaves, stash in the freezer and they are lovely sliced and toasted
(ok, I slather butter on mine, he likes his slices nakey).
For 3 mini loaves, cooking
time will be 40–50 minutes.
For the deepest flavor, use ripe bananas with lots of
freckles.
SERVINGS: 8
Ingredients
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1¾ cups all-purpose flour (225
g)
1½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar (reduced from 1.5 cups)
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large)
¾ cup vegetable oil
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a 9x5x3” loaf pan with nonstick
spray. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk eggs, sugar,
bananas, and oil in a large bowl until smooth. Add dry ingredients to banana
mixture and stir just until combined. Scrape batter into prepared pan and
smooth top.
Bake until a tester inserted into the center of bread comes
out clean, 60–70 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let bread cool in pan for 15
minutes. Run a knife around inside of pan to release the bread. Turn out onto
rack and let cool completely.
Do Ahead: Banana bread can be made 3 days ahead. Store
airtight at room temperature.