Banana-Pecan Bread

Spring semester started yesterday, so last night I decided what better way to celebrate the start of a new semester before all of my time is consumed with reading about Spanish phonetics and political philosophers, than by baking!  I have a break in between my morning classes so I stopped by a grocery store on campus to pick up those pecans that I had previously forgotten so that I could finally get around to baking the banana-pecan bread that I had hoped to bake this weekend.  

This recipe comes from Ellie Krieger's cookbook Comfort Food Fix which I received as a Christmas present this year.  She takes the recipes of many foods that people may consider "comfort foods" and makes changes to them so that they still keep their delicious flavor and give you that "fix", but do so in a healthier way.  My favorite part is that she provides you with nutritional information for before and after the changes are made.  This goes perfectly with my plan of eating healthier this year!  This was the first real recipe I made from this cookbook (whole wheat bread crumbs don't count) and it turned out delicious.  You can count on there being many more to come.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup pecan pieces
• 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 (or about 1 1/2 cups) very ripe bananas

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Peel and mash bananas in a small bowl.  Set aside.
3. Spread pecan pieces out evenly on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 8 minutes, or until they are fragrant.  Set aside.
4. Whisk all dry ingredients (flours, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, and salt) together in a large bowl.  Set aside.
5. Whisk together wet ingredients except for bananas (oil, yogurt, eggs, and vanilla) in a medium bowl.
6. Add the mashed bananas to medium bowl and whisk.
7. Combine dry and wet ingredients together and stir until combined.
8. Stir in toasted pecan pieces.
9. Pour batter into a greased 9x5 inch bread pan.
10. Bake for 50-55 minutes.  Let cool in pan for 15 minutes and then remove bread from pan and continue cooling.

Recipe from Comfort Food Fix by Ellie Krieger