Blueberry-Lemon Banana Bread.

We love bananas in my house. I bought a big bunch of 8 or 9 yesterday and we're down to 1 already! When I saw that Not Quite Nigella was hosting a banana bread event I knew I had to join in the fun.

I had trouble choosing a recipe. It seems that everyone in the world has a banana bread recipe that they swear by and I think I looked at hundreds of them trying to decide. I finally settled on a bran version but when I went to the store to pick up wheat bran, I changed my mind and went with blueberries.



The original recipe comes from Cooking Light and includes a glaze made from cream cheese. I ended up leaving that off when part of my bread decided to stick to the bottom of my pan. Grr. That's also why I don't have a picture of the full loaf.

Besides the whole sticking-to-the-pan issue, the bread turned out really good. The lemon isn't really noticeable but I think that's because the blueberries are so strong. I have a feeling that once Spencer tries this he'll be asking me to make it again.

Blueberry-Lemon Banana Bread
from: Cooking Light

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2 bananas)
1/2 cup egg substitute
1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare the banana bread, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk to combine.

Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until mixture is well blended (about 1 minute). Add mashed banana, egg substitute, sour cream, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Gently fold in blueberries and lemon rind. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool the bread 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove the bread from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.