Julia's Album

Two very ripe bananas and one package of blueberries were sitting on my counter, so naturally I had to make a banana bread with blueberries. I wanted something different from the banana bread recipe I used a couple of weeks ago, so in addition to blueberries, I also added Greek yogurt. Well, adding the Greek yogurt was sort of a necessity (as opposed to creativity), since I only had 2 bananas while the recipe called for 3, so I measured that 1 mashed banana equaled 1/3 cup in volume, and that’s how much Greek yogurt I added to replace the missing banana.

Blueberries add so much to banana bread! In addition to the berry flavor, they almost make the banana bread even more moist, without letting it lose the texture. Biting a slice of banana bread with blueberries is very much like having a slice of a berry cake: juicy and fruity, but without all the butter. I still can’t believe that this moist loaf of bread has only 1/3 cup butter, the rest of butter replaced by Greek yogurt and bananas. I need to make recipes like this more often!

I also realized something while making this banana bread and that one: the key to a moist and flavorful banana bread is to use very ripe bananas. Before I even consider using the bananas in baking, I wait until they turn black on the outside and get really soft to the touch. When peeled, such bananas are still white inside but very soft and mushy, not really holding their banana shape. Mashing such bananas with a fork is very much like stirring the smoothie: effortless! That’s when bananas are at their sweetest! Continue reading →