Baking on Friday (Saturday Edition): Banana Bread from Weight Watchers

Well, baking isn't exactly in keeping with my D-E Day commitment.  On the other hand, what are you going to do when this happens?

I swear these bananas went from green to brown without ever turning yellow.  So with five over-ripe bananas, what are you going to do but bake banana bread?  I did endeavor to find a recipe that wouldn't blow my diet, however, and so I found this one on the Weight Watchers website.  I'm sticking to the Weight Watchers plan for now.  The times I've been successful at losing weight, it's been because I tracked my food either by counting calories, or with Weight Watchers points.  So for now, I'm sticking with what has worked in the past.  A 1/2-inch slice of this bread is worth 4 Weight Watchers points.  I have 26 points for my daily allotment, and so I can eat a slice or two without totally blowing my daily budget.

The recipe used all five bananas.  I mashed three of them and cut the other two into chunks, then set them aside.

There are only 5 teaspoons of butter in the whole loaf.  That works out to about 2 tablespoons.  Let it come to room temperature.

Next, sift together into a large bowl 1 cup of whole wheat flour,

1 cup of unbleached all-purpose flour,

2 teaspoons of baking powder,

1 teaspoon of baking soda,

and a half teaspoon of table salt.  Set all that aside.

Next, in another large bowl, beat 1/2 cup packed golden brown sugar with the 5 teaspoons of butter

using an electric mixer until it's light a fluffy.

Add to that one large egg and beat it until it's well incorporated.  (You'll want to remove the shell before adding it to the sugar and butter...thought I'd mention that just in case there was any misunderstanding.)

Next, you'll need 1/4 cup of fat-free milk.  I only had 2% and so that was what I used.

Then alternate adding the flour mixture, 

the mashed bananas,

and the milk to the sugar and butter mixture.

Combine it well, but don't over beat it.  Next you'll want to fold in 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

along with the banana chunks until it's well mixed,

and then turn it out into your prepared loaf pan.

Bake it in a preheated 350°F. oven for about 50 minutes to an hour or until a tester inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.

Mmmmmmm.  Looks good, huh?  Then let it cool in the pan for 15 minutes

before removing it from the pan and letting it cool completely on a wire rack.

Of course, I'm terrible about the waiting-for-it-to-cool part and I usually cut into it right away.  You can see what a nice texture it has with the nuts and the chunks of banana.

This is a banana-lover's bread.  Mike is kind of luke warm about bananas, and the chunks of banana were a little much for him.  I happen to love bananas, and so I thought they were great.  With so little fat in the mix and with the whole wheat flour, the chunks of banana keep it nice and moist.

Like what you see?  Here's the recipe:

Banana Bread from Weight Watchers

Cooking spray
5 large bananas -- very ripe
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
5 teaspoons unsalted butter -- at room temperature
1/2 cup golden brown sugar -- packed
1 large egg -- at room temperature
1/4 cup milk, fat free -- at room temperature
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Coat a large loaf pan with cooking spray.

Peel and mash 3 bananas.  Peel and cut 2 bananas into small chunks.  Set both aside.

In a large bowl, sift together both types of flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In another large bowl, using an electric mixer, combine butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add egg and beat to incorporate.

Alternating in batches, add mashed bananas, flour mixture, and milk to bowl with butter mixture.  Combine well, but do not over beat; fold in walnuts and banana chunks.

Turn batter into prepared pan; bake until a tester inserted in center of bread comes out clean, about 50 minutes.  Cool in pan for 15 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool more.  Cut into 18 slices.