Banana bread recipe with macadamia nuts: Because, why not?
What’s all the fuss about banana bread, you ask? Well, you have to try it to know why. I still don’t know why this is called banana ‘bread’ instead of cake but I do know that it’s actually somewhere in between and tastes awesome toasted and slathered with salted butter.
This is also a fool-proof banana bread recipe. Really. Just throw some things together in a bowl, whisk it and bake it to get this awesome loaf full of yummy banana flavour.
We rarely buy more than 4 bananas at at a time so mine is a one banana banana bread recipe. Is that too many bananas in one sentence yet?
You may also like this banana chocolate cake, gluten free almond cake, and chocolate cookie cake. If you are looking for an eggless banana bread recipe, then check out this eggless banana walnut bread recipe.
Banana bread is very photogenic so go ahead and take some pretty shots and tag it on Instagram or Twitter with #ediblegarden.
Banana Bread with Macadamia Nuts
Ingredients
- 1 ripe banana
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3/4 cup sugar I may add slightly less next time
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup plain flour
- 3/4 cup nuts of your choice
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- A pinch of salt
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350F/180C
- Mash the banana well with a fork and set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until soft and the sugar has blended well. Add the eggs and beat more until well combined.
- Add the mashed banana and mix well. Then add the vanilla extract and mix again.
- Next, add the flour and a pinch of salt. Fold in gently until no streaks of flour remain and the batter is lump-free
- Transfer to a greased loaf pan and bake in the pre-heated oven for 40-50 mins or until a skewer inserted into the loaf comes out clean.
- Cool completely before cutting into slices.
Step by step pictures for banana bread with macadamia nuts
Pre-heat oven to 180C / 350F.
Here’s some of the star cast. A banana (because this is a one banana banana bread recipe, remember? Ok, I’ll stop!), 2 eggs, nuts – walnuts being the most popular but I added what I had in hand, a handful of hazelnuts and a couple of macadamia nuts which somehow made their way into my pantry and I have no idea from where.
Step one – mash the banana up. I used a potato masher because something about getting squishy banana pieces on my fingers turns me off.
Next, whisk together 1/2 cup butter at room temperature (ignore that I melted it, I always do that because I forget to put the butter out but please don’t be like me) and 3/4 cup sugar. I used brown sugar but white is ideal.
Once the sugar has completed blended in with the butter, thrown in 2 eggs. You don’t have to beat anything to death or make things fluffy, just combining well will do. So combine the eggs well. Now throw in the mashed banana. Since that’s not a very pretty picture, I am going to quickly move on.
Now, add 1 cup plain flour and a pinch of salt. Some recipes call for baking powder. I didn’t add any and it still came out nice and fluffy so stay with me here, ok? Combine the flour well into the mixture. Again, no excessive beating please.
The final addition – about 3/4 cup of roughly chopped nuts. I gave them a couple of twists in my mixer so they are all of different sizes but that’s ok. It’s banana bread, anything goes. By the way, nuts are optional.
Combine well.
Pour into a greased loaf pan.
Bake in a 350F/180C pre-heated oven for about 40-50 mins, until a skewer inserted into the loaf comes out clean.
Let the banana bread sit in the loaf pan and cool completely. Then transfer to a plate/cake board and cut into 1″thick slices. Why 1″? Because I say so!
You can freeze banana bread for up to a month. Just leave it in the fridge overnight to defrost before serving. Also tastes great toasted, with a pat of butter.
Hi,
Please help.I have a IFB 170PM MEC model(solo) which has temp as high,med high,medium,medium low etc..if i have to preheat the oven 180C/350F which mode shud i keep it on :(:(..
copy and paste this link into your browser, I have given instructions on how to preheat an oven here: https://www.cookingandme.com/2010/12/how-to-pre-heat-oven.html
How do you bake this recipe in a microwave convection oven.
From your blog it stated that you are using a MW conveection oven as well.
Please help me with this phrase, Bake in a 350F/180C pre-heated oven for about 40-50 mins. How LONG do i have to PRE-HEAT the MW convection oven BEFORE placing the cake inside the MW convection oven.
Thanks.
I baked it and it turned out to be awesome! I did changes, none intentional. I used whole wheat flour, 2/3rd cup sugar instead of 3/4th, added some dates and used a pinch of baking powder due to the whole wheat flour I used! The crust was nice, brown, a bit crispy. Since this was just second meeting time with baking for me, I wanted something simple. Thanks for sharing the recipe! It was really easy and effortless.
thank you so much for leaving a note, so glad it turned out well 🙂
bought the ingredients,gonna cook it now
Hi Nags,
I had been keeping an eye on this page for a while like a spy. 🙂
Was waiting for my loaf pan to arrive in the mail. Will try this today.. please wish me luck!! My dh is a very good criticizer of my cooking (unlucky me) and he loves this cake from Starbucks!
I really feel like using brown sugar today. Will it taste better than white ?
Thanks,
Priya
Not sure if brown sugar will taste better in banana bread, I used it cuz that's all I had in hand 🙂 white is the more conventional choice in banana bread recipe. good luck Priya, let me know how it turned o ut.
Ah yes, two reasons I can think of now.
1. The banana needs to be really ripe for the natural leaveners to kick in to the banana bread.
2. There were air pockets in the batter. So once you fill the cake pan with the batter, you should lightly tap it so that all the air bubbles are filled. This will ensure even baking.
Hope the banana bread recipe works for you the next time.
thanks for such a prompt reply Nags…actually the banana was ripe and firm maybe not that ripe as required. althought the bread tasted really good but it was hard.It looked good when it was done in the oven but when i turned it upside down it had a hole or gap sort of thing in the centre….i will try it again with a nicely ripe banana….will wait for ur guidence