Let the games begin!

As I mentioned in a post earlier this summer, I have decided to enter my banana bread into the state fair. While registering for the contest, I decided to up the ante by entering a layered bar too- which I will cover in another post coming soon!

The Banana Bread
The recipe I used is an old one from my Grandmother Marjorie. I knew it was a keeper when I saw that she wrote "good one" on it, not to mention the card is FILTHY- always a good sign for a recipe. The reason this recipe works is because there is a specified amount of mashed bananas rather than a quantity of whole bananas as I have seen in other recipes. For the fair, I took Aunt Ellen's advice and roasted the bananas to deepen the flavor, but this is optional and the bread still turns out great without this step. Another adjustment I made for the fair was a cinnamon streusel. I've heard the judges want something -ahem- "sexy".  Not sure if a streusel is considered erotic but I'm hoping it will at least give me some sort of edge.

I tried a few different types, some more successful than others.
Banana split bread- added chopped maraschino cherries and chocolate chips. It was OK, nothing special.
Reese's peanut butter cup- added a cup of chopped peanut butter cups- the peanut butter cup really didn't come through the way I envisioned. I think if I did this one over I would add some peanut butter to the batter and sprinkle a good amount on top of the batter before baking.
Chocolate Marble- I took 1/3 of the batter and added 1/4 cup of coco powder and 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and layered the chocolate batter in with the regular then swirled it. It was very tasty and was a keeper. Perhaps next years submission?

Now for the recipe, I decided to put down the original recipe with the extra steps later on.

Grandma Marge's Banana Bread

2 cups mashed bananas
3 eggs
1 c oil
1 tbsp vanilla
2 c flour
1 c sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven 350
Butter loaf pan (doesn't matter 8x5 or 9x5*) or butter muffin pan for 16 muffins
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, soda and salt.
In a large bowl whisk together bananas, eggs, oil and vanilla
Sprinkle dry ingredients over banana mixture and gently stir until combined
pour into pan and bake for 55 minutes for 9x5 pan or 65-70 minutes for 8x5 pan or 25 minutes for muffins or until toothpick comes out clean
* don't scrape the bowl too thoroughly for 8x5, sometimes it does cook over

Ok so here is where my twists come in...
Allow to cool in pan for 30 minutes, remove from pan and cool completely. Wrap in plastic wrap AND foil and allow to sit overnight. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Streusel Layer
1/4 c flour
1/4 c packed brown sugar (I like dark)
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp COLD butter, cubed
good pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients into a medium bowl
Use a pastry blender or fork to cut butter into the rest of the ingredients until butter is not longer visible and small pea sized crumbs appear.
Pour half the banana bread batter into pan, sprinkle half the streusel over batter, cover with remaining batter and sprinkle with remaining streusel.

To roast bananas
preheat oven to 400
line a baking sheet with foil (optional but easier clean up)
place bananas- peel on- and bake for 10-15 minutes or until dark
allow to rest for 10 minutes before mashing

And now for my mistakes....

1. leave the peel on the bananas to roast- otherwise the banana flesh gets nasty
2. If using a wooden skewer to test doneness, make sure you put it safely in the trash. I learned this the hard way resulting in a skewer "impaled" in my arm when taking out the trash. A trip to urgent care later, I have learned my lesson. Fun Fun.
3. line bottom of oven with foil, thank goodness for self cleaning ovens.