We're in the middle of summer and I've been slacking as far as the blog posts go. My apologies, but I have a lame excuse, I do. There are too many delicious recipes to try and too much time to spend outdoors. Well this long over do post is one that is delish and truly not my own creation. It's a compilation of a few great bloggers out there and let's give credit where credit is due. The sour cream banana bread comes from Courtney at Neighborfoodblog.com and the strawberry sauce/compote comes from Christine who got the recipe from Aunt Missy's Kitchen.
I love a creamy banana bread and Courney hit the nail on the head with this one. Here's her recipe (with one minor change from me):
Sour Cream Banana Bread
8 slices
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened (Courtney melted her butter)
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
½ cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 large very ripe bananas
1½ cups flour
1 teaspoon. baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Grease an 8 inch bread pan with butter or cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the softened butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. I used my hand mixer for this stage and mixed ingredients together until smooth and no brown sugar lumps remained. Put your mixer away and whisk in the sour cream, add the eggs, one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.
In a separate bowl, mash the bananas then whisk them into the sour cream/egg mixture.
Sprinkle the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon on top then stir it together until flour is incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Check the pan after about 30 minutes. If the top is getting too browned, cover with foil for the remaining baking time. I didn't have to do that the two times I made this bread. Allow the bread to cool before removing from the pan. Wrap leftovers in saran wrap. Bread will keep for up to a week. (Mine is gobbled up in a matter of days)
Homemade Strawberry Sauce
12 oz fresh strawberries rinsed and hulled
3/4 cups sugar
1 tsp butter
Pinch of salt
Juice of 1 lemon (Missy uses 1/2 a lemon)
2 level teaspoons cornstarch
1 T cool water
In medium saucepan combine half the berries, sugar, butter, lemon juice and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium low heat for about 7 minutes, stirring a few times to make sure the sugar is dissolved and the mixture doesn't stick to the pan. (If you forget the butter, as I did the first time I made this, the mixture WILL stick to the pan, but the easy solution is to add the butter as soon as you realize you forgot it and you should be all right). In a separate small bowl, combine cornstarch and water and stir until smooth. Pour the cornstarch slurry into the strawberry mixture and stir. Allow berries to bubble and simmer for another minute or two and remove from heat. Add the remainder of the strawberries. Cool and refrigerate for later.
As Missy says, "this makes a great sauce for cheesecake, ice cream, pancakes, French Toast etc". I took the etcetera route and made a decadent breakfast/brunch entrée or side. Open Faced Banana Bread, Cream Cheese and Strawberry Sandwiches. Yummy delish, that's all I can say. Thanks fellow bloggers for all your inspiration!
And a few days later, I came up with this idea for easy portability. Three layer banana bread with all the fixings.
