"Kitchen Sink" Banana Bread

So I'm gonna be honest: I don't really like bananas. I mean, I'll eat them because they're filling and a good source of potassium, but like a lot of people, I only like them when they're still a little firm and a wee bit green: basically underripe. My daughter hates bananas with a fiery passion. So does my boyfriend.

And yet, I always have bananas in the house. Why?

Because:

My son LOVES them. He loves them so much. He would eat a whole bunch of bananas every day if I let him. It was the first food he ever learned how to prepare for himself. It's a go-to "MOM I'M HUNGRY" pre-dinner snack. It's a pre-breakfast snack. It goes into lunches and gets cut up over cereal. Nobody loves bananas more than this kid, I swear to god.

And yet, somehow, we occasionally end up with bananas that go bad before they've been eaten. And by "go bad" I of course mean "ripen". Many will argue that when the banana starts to turn black and brown and gets really soft, it's "perfect" for eating. Blergh.

Until recently, I've been throwing them away when they get like that. But then someone reminded me that overripe bananas are PERFECT for banana bread! And while I may not particularly enjoy bananas, I do love me some banana bread...

Click "Read More" to find out what I did with two particularly overripe bananas and why I call this recipe "Kitchen Sink Banana Bread"...

In addition to the bananas, I had a few other little things sitting around that needed a home, and fast: half a can of pumpkin puree that was minutes away from smelling weird, half a container of sour cream with no foreseeable use, about a quarter cup of coconut oil left in a jar I needed to clean out for a second use, a handful of raw, unsalted sunflower seeds that were perhaps a poor purchase on my part, and a bag of almonds that usually don't have a problem getting eaten, but, well, I have a LOT of almonds!

So I figured, surely...surely! I can put all of these things into one wonderful dessert...right?

Let's see...

Ingredients: assemble!

You'll notice that the bananas in the above picture look perfectly yellow and delightful. That's because the overripe bananas got smashed before I remembered to take this picture, so I had to throw in a quick substitute. The bananas you see above were eaten the next day. :)

As for mashing the bananas, I am not a fan of that particular job. The smell of banana becomes overpowering, and the texture makes me a little gaggy.

Turns out it's a perfect job for a helpful, banana-crazed 8-year-old:

Then I mixed the pumpkin puree into the banana mash and stuck it into the fridge to set for a few minutes while I worked on the rest of the bread, which basically comes together like any other quickbread:

Cream the butter, coconut oil, and sugar together:

Combine the flours, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice in a separate bowl:

Add the dry mix to the wet mix:

Then toss in the banana/pumpkin mixture:

Stir it up and fold in the chopped almonds, sunflower seeds, and sour cream:

Until it looks like this: good enough to eat! But don't, because raw eggs. 

Pour it into a buttered cake pan and bake at 350 for about an hour. 

OMG. 

OMG!

Best. Banana. Bread. Ever. And because of the wheat, almonds, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin...it's actually kinda good for you! You know, for banana bread. :P Usually I feel a little bit guilty when I eat cake for breakfast...but in this case I am willing to make an exception. One slice of this baby (about an eighth of the bread) has 8 grams of protein in it. You could probably add some chia seeds or all-natural peanut butter to up that number a bit.

KITCHEN SINK BANANA BREAD RECIPE!!

Ingredients:

• 2 overripe bananas
• 1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 3/4 stick of softened butter
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 eggs left out until they reach room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1/4 tsp each cinnamon, ground cloves, ground ginger, and ground nutmeg)
• 1/2 cup chopped almonds
• 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• butter for buttering your pan (you'll need kind of a lot)

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350F and butter a cake or loaf pan. Butter it well! This is a wet pumpkin bread and it will try really hard to stick.
2. Mash the hell out of the bananas. Leave a few little lumps here and there for texture.
3. Stir the pumpkin puree into the banana mash and set in the fridge.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together your flour, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice until combined.
5. Cream the butter in a stand mixer and slowly add the coconut oil until creamy.
6. Add the sugar a little at a time until the mixture is looking fluffy.
7. While the mixer is still running, drop in the eggs one at a time.
8. Add the vanilla.
9. Keep the mixer running, and add a third of the flour mixture, then scrape down the sides to get it combined. Once it's all mixed up, add the second third of the flour mixture and repeat until the consistency looks...well, consistent.
10. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and stir in the pumpkin/banana mixture.
11. Fold in the nuts, seeds, and sour cream and stir well.
12. Pour your batter into the prepared pan and bake for about an hour, or until a knife tests clean.

XOXO