Cognac Banana Bread

If you're anything like me you don't know much about brandy. It's made from wine and you sip it from one of those bulbous glasses, right? Thus begins and ends my understanding of brandy.

For this recipe you don't need to know anything about brandy other than Cognac, a French variant of the spirit, is used and it is a wonderful flavor enhancement. Use whatever kind of brandy you have on hand, there's only a spoonful in the recipe.

Sweet breads, or quick breads, such as banana, pumpkin and ginger bread are easy to make but also pretty easy to goof up. Tips for baking these kinds of breads:

• don't over mix your ingredients - mashed bananas shouldn't be creamed, you want some lumps
• ingredients should be a room temp unless otherwise specified
• break those eggs into a small bowl before adding to the mixer - eliminates your chance of eggshell chips
• throughly grease your pans - nothing is more disappointing than a perfect looking bread or cake that betrays your love by sticking to the pan

Cognac Banana Bread

     makes 1 loaf

     inspired by Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

4 ripe bananas, roughly mashed

⅓ cup melted butter

1 cup brown sugar, loosely packed (I prefer dark brown sugar but use what you like)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp Cognac

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp cloves

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

1½ cups flour

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350°F. 

In a large bowl, stir bananas and butter together. Add the sugar, egg, vanilla and Cognac, mix until all is incorporated before adding the spices. Lastly, fold in the flour until just combined. 

Chunky, mashed banana & melted butter

Pour your badder out into a greased loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes. The banana bread won't be fully baked but remove the bread from the over and lightly sprinkle a spoonful of sugar over the top. This will give the bread a crisp, crystalized top. Return to the oven and continue backing until a toothpick comes out clean, another 5-10 minutes.

Let cool. Serve warm, serve cold, toasted with jam, toasted with butter. I really enjoy the chunky bits of banana throughout the bread. Looking forward to making this one again and again. Hope you enjoy it, too!

Mmmm mmm good!