I’m usually very decisive when faced with a few spotty bananas on the counter because banana bread is a perennial favourite at my house. I felt uncharacteristically hesitant this morning because I recently bookmarked a few interesting banana recipes.
Option 1 is America’s Test Kitchen’s Banana Bread. Of course I’m curious to find out ATK’s version of perfection for this favourite. There’s comfort and trust with the reliability of an ATK recipe. Though truth be told, I doubt the subtly would make this banana bread anymore memorable than some of the best recipes I regularly use. I yearn for something a little more exciting.
If excitement is what I seek, there’s no shortage of it in option 2. Dan Lepard posted his recipe for Banana Blondie a few years ago at his column in The Guardian. Blondie usually refers to a brownie without chocolate with moist texture contributed by butter, brown sugar, and eggs. Lepard’s interpretation is in fact a white chocolate brownie (a whitie?). That alone is enough to make me rush to the kitchen. As if that’s not enough, the blondie is sweetened with mashed bananas with brazil nut toffee folded in. I cannot stop thinking about this recipe the minute I lay eyes on it. The recipe is a little involved though not overly so. I would absolutely jump on it except I had been with traveling so simplicity was a big consideration.
Enter Flo Braker with option 3. Her cookbook Baking For All Occasions does not have immediate visual appeal due to lack of photographs. However, every time I read the recipes, there are bound to be more than a few that pique my interest. Her Banana-Bottom Pineapple Swirl Cupcake is perfect example.
What makes Braker’s banana cupcake so special? A cupcake made with banana cake and without frosting is nothing to write home about. But once you discover the hidden surprise of pineapple cream cheese filling, you would agree that this is a memorable little treat. The cream cheese filling is reminiscent of cheese cake with the use of cream cheese, eggs, sugar, and crushed pineapple. The banana cake is pretty standard butter cake sweetened with mashed bananas. When I filled the lined muffin tin, a tablespoon of the cream cheese filling is layered between tablespoons of cake batter. Once baked, some of the cream cheese filling peeks through the top of the cake for a preview of what’s inside.
I love the tropical taste of these moist cupcakes. Even without any frosting, they taste absolutely decadent. I can only imagine the taste if I take the tropical theme a little further with a swirl of coconut buttercream perched on top and a slice of banana chip as decoration.
Now that my kitchen is deprived of spotty bananas, it’ll be a while before I can tackle another banana bread recipe or that irresistible banana blondie. Luckily, as long as Costco remains part of my regular grocery stops, coming home with just a few too many bananas should be a dilemma I continue to enjoy.