My Husband Keeps Bringing Home Bananas

They're not even bunches - they're just random, single bananas, that he's not going to eat because they're already too brown, and that I'm not going to eat because GROSS, BANANAS.

Sooo, banana bread!  I gave away this particular loaf because I'm not going to eat bucketloads of banana bread, plus we had a friend going through a rough time with his wife in the hospital, so homemade bread sounded like something he needed.

1/3 cup milk
1 very ripe banana (peel 'em mash 'em)
1 egg
2 tbsp butter, softened
3 cups bread flour
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup walnuts (chop 'em)

Spread your walnuts on a baking sheet and put them in a 350 degree over, giving them a good flip (I just shimmy the baking sheet) at least once during the cooking.  Keep an eye on them, they burn very fast.  They should start to smell toasty, and that's all you need.  Put all the ingredients in your machine with the walnuts on top and let the white cycle do it's thing on this 1.5 pound loaf.

Warning: it makes your house smell like bananas.  EWW.

This is pretty tasty with strawberry jam spread all over it.  Plus, it's a substantial breakfast!  It really makes you happy for the rest of the day.

Banana Cinnamon Chip Bread

It came out good, which means I can share the recipe with you now!

I couldn't get the color in the photo quite right, it's actually an AMAZING orangey color from the cinnamon chips.  It's so cool looking!  Now, those of you that know me, know that I HATE bananas.  Hate hate hate, cannot eat them, they are the one food that I just can not stand.  However, the kneading action of my bread machine made it so there weren't any slimy chunks of bananas and they were spread evenly throughout the dough, leaving the sweetness behind without compromising the consistency of the bread.  I wasn't too thrilled about hand mashing the bananas, or how it smelled when it was in the mixing phase.  But then, I'm in the minority in my feelings on bananas, so let's move on!

For a 1.5 pound loaf:

1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (1 banana yielded this for me, and when it has some brown skin it's perfect for baking!)
1/2 cup Hershey's Cinnamon Chips (chocolate chips would also be amazing)
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
2 tbsp butter, cut in to pieces
1 cup bread flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tbsp brown sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 and 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

Select the whole wheat /whole grain cycle on your machine.
Note that I put the cinnamon chips in first - I did this because my whole wheat cycle preheats the the pan before it mixes, so it made my chips all melty before mixing.  There are no chips left, just the cinnamon sugary flavor throughout.   If you would prefer your chips to stay intact, you could put them in last (which is what the recipe called for in the first place), or put them in after your bread is partially kneaded.

I had a hard time finding the Hershey's Cinnamon Chips in stores, but finally had success from Amazon!  I had to order several bags of them, but I'm sure I can figure out what to do with them!  :D