Best Banana Bread (with white chocolate and toffee)

Ah yes, the “Best Banana Bread Recipe.” Bold claim, huh? Calling this “bread” is almost laughable, to be honest. For all intents and purposes, it’s a banana cake – and a very, very good one at that. However, by calling it a bread, we can ascertain a couple of important things about this recipe – things that do, in fact, separate it from a cake.

Read on for a little more about this (insanely good) banana bread, or you can just head right to the recipe itself. Up to you! Either way, happy baking.

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Best Ever Banana Bread

For starters, this particular banana bread recipe of mine is incredibly easy to whip up. Unlike a banana cake, there are no layers or frostings to assemble and finagle. A very straightforward batter pulls together quickly here (one-bowl, one spoon, right?), calling on just a handful of baking pantry staples + the extremely delicious addition of white chocolate.

Speaking of the white chocolate, that part really is optional. But I find that the sweetness of the white chocolate is so nice in a banana bread and finding those happy white-chocolatey puddles and pockets throughout the banana bread as you eat it is pretty great. Hence, I have deemed this the Best Ever One-Bowl Banana Bread. Or, at least the best one to come out of My Kitchen Little to date …

A banana bread by any other name …

Secondly, by simply labeling this a “banana bread” we sort of give it a more casual vibe, you know? A simple quick bread (which is what this is, essentially) is altogether more approachable than a cake, so sometimes names do matter, I’ve learned. Although between us, as far as taste and devour-ability go, this banana bread by any other name is a cake.

How to make the best Banana Bread

There is nothing shocking or particularly revelatory about this recipe. It’s very usual so far as banana bread recipes go. I think it’s the combination of ingredients that really makes this stuff so stinkin good. It’s MOIST as can be, and lovably simple to make. Here’s how you do it:

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and spray a 9-by-4-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray. (I also like to line mine with parchment paper, creating handles for easy removal) 
2. Using a wooden spoon, mash 4 of the bananas in a large bowl until they’re mostly smooth (some clumps are okay). Add the oil, brown sugar, milk, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to evenly combine. 
3. Next, add the flour, baking soda and salt, sprinkling the baking soda and salt evenly over top of everything. Stir well, but just until everything seems combined and no more dry spots remain. Fold in the white chocolate and toffee bits.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Split the remaining banana down the center, lengthwise, and arrange it on top of the batter in the pan (as pictured). Evenly sprinkle the top of the banana bread with the turbinado sugar. 
5. Bake for 55 to70 minutes, or until a knife or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  

What you’ll need to make the best Banana Bread recipe

This ingredients list reads in a most typical, ordinary, banana bread-y way. I’m not trying to sneak in anything crazy here, not really. Well, maybe with the exception of the white chocolate, that is. That’s my own little extra special piece of flare that makes the whole thing eat like a friggin delicacy what can I say?

Ahem. Anyway, the ingredients list and method here are standard, but I do think the sour cream, white chocolate, and crunchy, sparkling turbinado sugar really make this stuff incredibly good.

INGREDIENTS

• 5 very ripe bananas
• 1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil 
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup milk 
• 2 heaping TBSP sour cream or plain yogurt
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 heaping cup white chocolate chips
• ¼ cup turbinado sugar

What, exactly, is White Chocolate?

It’s funny, when I told a friend recently that I was testing a banana bread recipe that includes white chocolate, a small discussion as to the nature, origins, and makeup of white chocolate ensued and it frankly inspired me to do a little digging. I wasn’t altogether sure what white chocolate it actually is.

Turns out, white chocolate is actually not a chocolate because it does’t contain any chocolate solids (this is the part I vaguely remembered). Instead, it is made with a blend of sugar, cocoa butter, “milk products,” (hmmm) vanilla, and a fatty substance called lecithin.

How is White Chocolate Made?

To create white chocolate, cocoa beans are removed from their pods, then fermented, dried, roasted, cracked open, and their shells are discarded. What you’ve got left, after this process, is a nib. The chocolate nibs are then ground into a paste called chocolate liquor, which can be separated into cocoa solids, which provide the flavor, and cocoa butter, which is the fat. “Though white chocolate contains extracted cocoa butter, it lacks the component that defines real chocolate.”

So there you have it. The 4-1-1 on white chocolate, which isn’t really chocolate at all. But it is delicious and useful in its own right, and finds a very happy home in this wonderful banana bread recipe. Hope you guys enjoy it!

If you like the looks of this Banana Bread, you might also want to check out:

Zucchini Bread

Banana Bread Bruleed Oatmeal

Apple Fritter Quick Bread

Here is a ready-made pin for you! Simply save it to your “easy desserts” or “best of baking” board and you’ll be good to whip up what is truly the best banana bread recipe EVER!

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