You might be wondering (hopefully gleefully wondering) if I have decided in favor of continuing to breath life into this non-income producing, creative outlet endeavor. The short answer is yes. But having spent an inordinate amount of time and energy wrestling with this decision over the past several weeks, the short answer doesn't really fully explain what will be happening in this blog's next chapter. So here goes. The blog will evolve differently in the months ahead. There will be less new recipes appearing on a monthly basis, but they will be ones being what I will call 'cookbook worthy'. Meaning, if someday there is a cookbook in my future, these recipes will be some of the contenders. There will be updates to many of the recipes posted in the blog's early days. From reshooting the photos (desperately needed in too many cases), to revising the recipe ingredients (to include gram measurements), to bringing greater clarity to the directions, is how I will spending more of my time. When these revisions happen, they will appear on my Instagram feed and stories. So I hope you follow me (lynnkrizic) there too, if you aren't already. Rather than spending countless hours taking and editing photos for a blog post, I am going on the uphill learning curve climb and dipping further into the reel pond. As I believe this is where the foodie world has been headed for awhile now (yes, I am a tad late to the party). So each blog post, beginning with this one, will have no more than six photos. Infrequent will be the days when a post has ten to twelve photos. But you never know, there may be an exception every now and then. If it weren't for the feedback I had received from a small handful of loyal, publicly supportive, encouraging friends, I would be writing the eulogy for this blog. So if you have ever doubted that it only takes is a small group of people to make a difference, let me be the one to tell you to never have those doubts again.
There happens to be eight delicious versions of banana bread recipes on this blog. And when I press the publish button there will be nine! Yes, nine recipes for banana bread. I have sung the praises of all of them. But after tasting a bite of my friend Ann's Blueberry Banana Bread I knew it was one I needed in my repertoire. Let me go on record as saying this is the blue ribbon banana bread contender, the one I would put up in a banana bread throw down, the one I must begrudgingly admit wasn't my original creation but a slight adaptation, the one you need if you want to live your best banana bread life. If I haven't yet enticed you to make this moist, scrumptious, better than any fancy bakeshop Blueberry Banana Bread, let me keep trying.
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If I hadn't first tasted this Blueberry Banana Bread, I may have never made it. Because for some reason I wouldn't have been able to wrap my head around the whole blueberry banana combination. Which explains in part why there has been an almost unforgivable void on the blog. But let me back up a bit. Before I tasted this seriously good, actually pretty darn great, blueberry banana bread, my friend Ann shared it was a long time favorite family recipe. When I hear the words 'favorite family recipe' my thoughts immediately go back to the well done roast with crisco laden gravy my husband at one time would have referred to as a 'family favorite'. In other words, I am guilty of being unfairly dismissive of any recipe framed by those words. And had I not been a little hungry, I may have taken a pass on a slice. Thank goodness hunger has a way of overruling irrational thinking. Because I knew in the first bite, I absolutely had to have her recipe.
Fortunately for me, she shared it. But like most well-worn, old family favorite recipe cards, the directions left a little to the imagination. Having seen and tasted the blueberry banana bread she made, I could have easily figured out how the blueberries were added to the batter. But, of course, I felt I had permission to take a few liberties with the recipe. Instead of mashing 1/3 cup of fresh blueberries in with the bananas, I decided to add a whole cup, lightly tossed with flour, (plus a handful for the top) of fresh blueberries into the batter. When you taste a whole sweet blueberry in a bite of banana bread, you will understand why I did this. I had to make an educated guess as to what size (metal) pan to use. The first time I made it, I used an 8" x 4" pan (rather than a 9" x 5" pan) because I like a banana bread to have alot of height. The second time I used an 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" pan. The slightly larger pan worked perfectly. And lastly, I made two changes to the ingredients: increasing the amount of Kosher salt from 1/4 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon and adding in 1 teaspoon of baking powder. Yet, in spite of these slight changes to my friend's recipe, it was the ratios of all of the other ingredients that were responsible for creating such an incredibly moist, perfect crumb, scrumptious blueberry banana bread. Without her recipe, I may have never been able to make a five star worthy version of a banana bread.
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Forget about taking out your KitchenAid to make this Blueberry Banana Bread. Use your hand mixer. For the best results, use a European-style unsalted butter. In this bread, it makes a difference. Use very ripe bananas to give your bread a deep, luscious banana flavor. If you don't happen to have any bananas, it might be a week before you can make this bread. Unless of course you can find some getting very close to the ripe point bananas at your grocery store. Then maybe you are only a couple of days away from making this Blueberry Banana Bread. (Hint: Convenience stores are famous for having ripe bananas for sale.)
This Blueberry Banana Bread doesn't really need to be slathered with cream cheese or butter and honey, but I won't stop you. Whether you eat it 'plain' or 'adorned', you are in for such the best treat!
Last but not least, I hope you continue to follow the blog and my Instagram account. Nothing is more validating or motivating to a blogger than when posts garner comments and/or likes.
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Recipe
Blueberry Banana Bread (some very slight changes to my friend Ann's Blueberry Banana Bread family recipe)
Ingredients
1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, room temperature (recommend European or European-style butter)
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour plus 1 Tablespoon for dusting the blueberries
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon whole milk
1 1/2 cups (about 350g) ripe bananas, mashed (3-4 medium sized or 3 large bananas should yield this amount)
1 cup (148g) fresh blueberries
Optional: 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
Optional: Cream cheese, butter and/or honey for serving
Directions
1. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and Kosher salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, add in the unsalted butter and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy (approximately 2 minutes) using a hand mixer.
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat until fully incorporated.
4. Add in the dry ingredients. Beat until incorporated (don't over beat).
5. Add in the Tablespoon of whole milk and mashed bananas. Beat until blended.
6. Toss the blueberries with a tablespoon of flour. Add to the batter. Fold in using a spatula. (Note: Coating the blueberries in flour helps to prevent them from sinking to the bottom.)
7. Butter or spray an 8 1/2" by 4 1/2" metal baking. Line with parchment paper. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth the top, then sprinkle on a handful of fresh blueberries. If using walnuts, fold them i with the blueberries.
Place the baking pan in the refrigerator to let the batter rest for 15 minutes. While the batter is resting, preheat the oven to 350 degrees (F).
8. Place the baking pan on a baking sheet before placing in the oven. Bake for 70-90 minutes or until the bread is done. At the halfway point, rotate your baking pan and lightly place a piece of aluminum foil over the top of the bread to prevent it from 'over' browning. Note: My baking time was closer to 80 minutes.)
9. Remove from the oven. Place baking pan on a cooling rack but keep the aluminum foil on top (it helps to keep the top of the bread from getting a hard top layer.) Allow the Blueberry Banana Bread to rest for at least 15 minutes before transferring the bread back to the cooling rack. Place the piece
10. You can wait to cut into thick (1" slices) when it comes to room temperature, or you can cut it when it's almost room temperature. However long you can wait.
11. I like to store any leftover blueberry banana bread in the refrigerator as it helps to keep it moist. You can always reheat a slice in the microwave or in the toaster if you would like to enjoy it warm.
Notes: (1) I increased the Kosher salt from 1/4 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon because I use unsalted, not salted butter, when baking. (2) I added 1 teaspoon of baking powder, in addition to the baking soda, to ensure there would be some rise to the bread. (3) Giving the bread some resting time in the refrigerator is a modification of a technique used when making quick breads. And technically, banana bread falls into the quick bread category.