TWD: Black & White Banana Loaf

Well, I can't marble anything to save my life. I've tried a handful of times but I just can't get it. Although, this time shouldn't really count because I, like many other TWD bloggers were cursed with the runny batter. I have a few theories. Too much banana, too mushy bananas, overly melted butter... those are my best guesses. I think my issue was a combo of very mushy bananas, because I let them get black which took a lot of willpower on my part. Bananas are so nasty, especially when they ferment on the counter and look nasty. Also, I stuck my butter underneath the oven heat release vent to speed up the room temperature process and instead got very drippy butter. Anyway, I just can't marble.

Funny story, I thought this week's TWD was actually next week's. When we were at the grocery store, there was a certain item on sale that I bought in preparation of next week's recipe and I made it. I started my draft for the post and checked the TWD site and realized I made the recipe a week early. ARGHH... That's okay, I took a couple bananas from work the same day because I was just gonna make both recipes the same day. Alas, I did not. We left for LA on Saturday morning and I just didn't have the time. I came home to some nasty bananas that were ripe for the baking.

I say nasty bananas all the time because bananas are nasty. I hate them actually. There is an exception though. I will eat bread type things that contain banana, i.e. banana bread, banana nut muffins, probably not cake though. I am a weird person. Aside from that, I like this bread, or cake, whatever. I think it will taste even better tomorrow when all the flavors really have a chance to come out and what not. The crust is super yummy too, mine came out perfectly crunchy. I made a couple additions though; 1/3 cup chopped walnuts in the plain batter, and 1/3 cup chocolate chips in the chocolate batter. Yum! This week's TWD in one word: banana-y

Bananananananananas... ewwww

It's no secret that I hate bananas. I actually despise them, and just smelling them on our counter two days after we bought them was making me sick. I was not going to wait any longer for these bananas to ferment in their nasty stench anymore. I bought them at Fresh & Easy with the intention of making banana nut bread, which I happen to love, go figure, but with a twist on it... Nutella swirled in there. Oh yeah. As I am making this, I look at it and decide that isn't enough of a twist. What do I do? I throw in some cocoa, some dark brown sugar, some nutmeg, a little extra butter, and a little extra flour. Who knows how this is going to turn out. It could quite possibly be downright disgusting. Then again, it could be positively amazing. We will see. The mushy congealed mess that is banana bread batter is sitting in the oven right now with about 45 minutes to go. I am actually quite excited for this one. I was a little more adventurous this time around. I promised myself that I would only have a little and then give the rest to Glenn's friend Calogero who loves Nutella a little more than I do. Good idea. Update to follow.

Update: Ugggghhhhhh.... So i guess I tinkered a tad too much. I have had to add an additional 10-15 minutes on to the original baking time. Either I messed with it too much and it will never fully bake, or it just takes a really long time. i think this is why I never make bread. I need instant gratification. Even some tasty batter is enough to tide me over. There's no way I am about to eat banana in the raw though, because that is just plain nasty. At least if I ruined this, I only lost 1/2 a jar of Nutella. Any more would be a travesty. Another update to follow soon, but I really need to go to bed.

Morning After Update: Well, after I got some sleep and I wasn't so mad at the banana bread, I decided to have some for breakfast. Not too bad. The swirls of Nutella were nice, but not enough. When I didn't have Glenn influencing my thoughts as he further emphasizes how much he hates hazelnut, I was able to actually enjoy it a little. I will post the recipe a little later, and maybe someone may have a suggestion as to how to improve it. It took too long in the oven to bake all the way through. The inside is nice and moist but the crust is overdone. Next time I will just make some regular banana bread with maybe a little cocoa thrown in. I thought that was a nice touch.