- Banana Bread We Finally Made - Improved!

Dear Fans of Hounds Who Cook,

We finally made the banana bread. I, Guthrie, had left the bananas out to steep in the kitchen air and they were lusciously soupy with dark dark liquid. Possibly even a little fermented since they'd been 2 days uncovered, closed up in the microwave (to keep fruit flies away and to not tempt dogs looking for a midnight snack while the Person sleeps). Our girl called Me had hauled out the whole wheat flour so we knew she was looking for something healthier than the original recipe of banana bread and we obliged. Eli was not a-party to this as he was watching the garage sale across the street, which was hopping at 8 a.m. I doubled the recipe because sometimes when you're making minute changes, it's easier to double it than to be so precise as the single recipe would require (especially in using stevia, which you do in very teensy measurements).

Here's a good reason to pull out your electric knife when there's no turkey to carve. This bread is yummy in a big slab cut with a regular knife (especially when just out of the oven) but so very nice when cut in slender slices and slathered with butter. Mmm.

Just to confirm that this is a palatable option, we called Me's mother who is of a certain number of years and doesn't like recipes messed with. She said, "Well, the taste was very good though it was a rather thick bread." We hadn't gotten out the electric knife yet, you see, to cut them thin as a cat's toe when we sent it home to her. So she was hacking at it with a regular serrated knife and it falls apart easily that way so she was forced to eat a thick hearty piece. With that resounding testimonial:

Guthrie's Healthier Banana Bread (revised 2008, Eau Claire, Wis.)
Me's Independent Rating: nearly 3 of 3

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup apple sauce (unsweetened, made myself from our own apple tree a few weeks back)
1 cup (scant) sugar
smidgen of stevia, equivalent to 1 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 (generous) cups mashed, (very) ripe banana
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all purpose flour*
6 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cup chopped nuts

Cream the butter, apple sauce, and sugar together. Beat the eggs slightly, and blend in. Stir in the soupy banana and lime. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in a separate bowl. Stir in just til mixed. Add nuts.

Douse two loaf pans with cooking spray and dust with flour. Pour the batter in and bake at 375F for about an hour. We hope you can smell when it is done. Dogs can.

Tips from Guthrie: We always bake in glass loaf pans since we don't like the noxious odor of teflon (maybe you can't smell it, but it's scientifically true; any hound can smell it) and the stainless steel mini bread pans are so hard to clean. You can lick them all day long and still have cooked on particles in the corners. When you bake in glass, lower the temperature 25 degrees or your outsides will cook before your insides.

Tips from Eli: The bread is best with butter. Everything is.