Well, if you start with the right banana bread, you won’t have any leftovers. But just in case you do, let me give you six scrumptious ideas.
You have to start with scrumptious banana bread. Here are four tips for great banana bread:
Start with very ripe bananas. Squishy ripe bananas have two to three times the flavor of ripe bananas. We let our leftover bananas get black and then freeze them.
Add a teaspoon of banana flavor. It doesn’t matter how ripe the bananas are, banana flavor will make your bread or muffins a little better.
Add cinnamon chips. Get a burst of sweet cinnamon in every bite. Cinnamon chips make an amazing difference.
Refrigerate your bread. Wrap your bread and refrigerate it overnight. After chilling, the banana bread is easier to cut into nice, uniform slices and it holds together better.
Ideas for Your Leftover Banana Bread
Idea #1: Peanut Butter & Jelly Banana Bread Sandwiches
The billboard image above is of a banana bread sandwich made with peanut butter and jelly. Peanut butter and honey go with banana bread also.
Consider all the flavored honeys that are available also. You can do some amazing stuff.
Nutella or Nutella with honey goes well with banana bread.
Idea #2: Banana Bread with a Cream Cheese Spread
You can buy a cream cheese and berry spread in the grocery store but it’s easy to make your own. Simply whip jam into softened cream cheese and sweeten to taste.
Consider fruit syrups. Apricot syrup whipped with cream cheese is one of our favorite spreads.
Idea #3: Banana Bread French Toast
This is one of the best ideas on the planet—banana bread French toast.
Make it like regular French toast only don’t soak it long in the egg wash—it tends to fall apart. Chilling the banana bread in the refrigerator overnight helps.
Idea #4: Banana Bread ala Mode
This is simple idea. Pile some ice cream on a couple of slices of banana bread. Pour some caramel topping over it and sprinkle on chopped pecans. Of course, you don’t have to stay with vanilla ice cream.
More Ideas for Banana Bread
You can pair almost any sweet spread with banana bread.
I’ve added flavored whipped cream to banana bread. Try Caramel Nut Whipped Cream to banana bread. See “Ten Ways to Make Flavored Whipped Cream.”
You can make a loaf of banana bread into a desert loaf simply by drizzling frosting over the loaf. In fact, you can make it look like a cake by baking it in a bundt pan.
(Many bundt pans are bigger than a loaf pan. Consider doubling the recipe or using two mixes. That may be too much batter. But that’s not a problem—put the leftover batter in a smaller pan. Banana bread baked in ramekins is delightful.)
Next on my list is to add homemade marshmallow cream to banana bread. I’m thinking strawberry marshmallow cream would be really good. See how to make homemade marshmallow cream. (By the way, this recipe makes marshmallow cream of a consistency that you can pipe it with a pastry bag.)
The Prepared Pantry Banana Bread Recipe
In case you don’t have a banana bread mix on hand, here’s a scratch recipe.
We took a great banana bread recipe and made it better two ways: with cinnamon chips and banana flavor. Don’t think of leaving either out; it won’t be the same. Be sure and use dark, really ripe bananas.
This recipe makes two loaves.
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
3 cups very ripe bananas (about five bananas)
1 teaspoon banana flavor
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups cinnamon chips
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9 x 5-inch baking pans or line with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
- In a large bowl, cream together the eggs and sugar. Stir in mashed bananas, vanilla, vegetable oil, and cinnamon.
- Stir in the flour mixture, a third at a time, until just combined. Gently fold in the cinnamon chips.
- Divide batter into the two prepared pans. Bake for about 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the center of the loaves comes out clean.
- Cool the bread for about ten minutes and then gently remove the bread from the pans. Let it cool completely on wire racks. Place the bread in plastic bags and chill the bread in the refrigerator.
