Bodacious Banana Blueberry Bread

It's been over a month since I posted a recipe!  And....the last thing I posted was a  fruit bread. Delicious as it was, and many of you made it and reported your outcome, this is a bit of a repeat on the theme.  However, it'll be one worth printing off and putting in your file as it will be the best banana bread you will ever make.  I thought I had posted this a long time ago. Then, I happened to be reading a recipe tip at this place about adding cooled coffee to a brownie mix. I thought what a great idea that is for making it a bit gourmet, and I said wow, I do that with my banana bread and realized I never shared this recipe on the blog. That was a huge run-on sentence, and I don't care... ;-)  So, here it is. Cooled coffee tip and so bodacious.... You've just got to try it.  Plus, you can practice your tongue-twisting capabilities when you talk about it, especially when you add my name to the title.

If you own my cookbook, you know that I recommend baking the bread in one large loaf pan. Today I wanted to make small breads and give three of them away. I actually kind of liked them like that, petite, you can freeze the others, give them away, etc.  I baked them for around 45 minutes at the same oven temperature.  And, of course, when blueberries are not in season you can just omit them.  Enjoy, and let me know in the comment section how you loved it.




BETH'S BODACIOUS BANANA BLUEBERRY BREAD (Say that five times fast)
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Mash 2 very ripe, large bananas. Stir in 1/4 cup of cooled strong, black coffee and set aside.

In a bowl, mix together 2 cups of sifted flour, 1/2 tsp. of baking soda, 1/2 tsp. of salt, and 1 tsp. of cinnamon.

In yet another bowl, cream 1/2 cup of softened butter with 1/2 cup of white sugar and 1/2 cup of brown sugar.  Stir in 1 tsp. of vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp. of almond extract. Add 2 eggs, one at a time and beat well after each addition.

Add the flour mixture and the mashed bananas alternately to the creamed mixture, combining well after each addition.  It's not necessary to beat it to death, though, as this can make for a tough outcome. Stir in 1/2 cup of broken walnut pieces if you like nuts in your bread.  When blueberries are in season, 1/2 cup gently folded in with the walnuts in awesome.

Pour the batter into a loaf pan that has been coated with cooking spray.  Or, prepare 4 mini loaf pans with cooking spray and divide the batter evenly.  Bake one large loaf for an hour at least, or until a tester comes out clean.  Or bake the mini loaves for about 45 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack for cooling, then wrap in foil when cool.

Below at a glance is the list of ingredients you will need:

• Ripe bananas
• Brewed coffee
• Flour
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Cinnamon
• Butter
• White sugar
• Brown sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Almond Extract
• Eggs
• Walnuts
• Blueberries (when available)