What’s so Indie About Food? Almond Date Banana Bread

There is something about autumn that makes me think of banana bread. Actually, I’m pretty sure that it must have been the time of year that my Grandmom began her annual baking and freezing of banana bread to stock up for holiday season. And oh boy, she sure did make one mean banana bread!  I make it now from her recipe, which is from the 1950s and includes weird stuff like ‘sour milk’…not sure what that means, I just use milk.

Anyway, this recipe from Vivian Cheng & Eric Jean-Louis of Blend Creations is not weird at all and actually sounds quite good. There is something about bananas, dates and almonds in a sweet bread that seems just totally delicious to me.  I will definitely be making this one.

While you are waiting for this to bake, make sure to check out Metal for Monsters, an effort by Blend Creations to raise money for UNICEF by collaborating with artists for a special line of limited-edition stainless steel pendants.  I have my eye on this one.

Almond Date Banana Bread

Ingredients:
2 stupidly ripe bananas
1 cup of dates, chopped
1 cup of almonds, chopped
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 cup flour
Pinch of salt

Here’s what you do:
Preheat your oven to 350F. In a large bowl, mix butter into the bananas. Add your sugar, egg and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and stir it in. Mix in your flour, then add your dates and almonds. Pour into a buttered loaf pan and bake for 1 hour.