TWD: The Black and White Banana Bread

Recipe chosen by: Ashlee of A Year in the Kitchen
Link to TWD group: Tuesdays With Dorie homepage

Alternate title of this post: How to Do Absolutely Everything Wrong and Still Succeed (Thank You Dorie!)

Okay now, here's how it goes:

Completely forget to buy bananas early enough that they're ripe when you want to make banana bread. CHECK!

One of the tips on line to rapidly ripen bananas was a brown paper bag with ventilation holes placed on top of the fridge.


(Didn't work...)

But I found another tip to put the bananas in the oven as it preheats - for about 15 minutes. Something about the skins blackening and the flavors and sugars concentrating.

(That one totally worked. Wasn't as great as a so-ripe-it's-black-on-the-outside banana, but it'll work in a pinch.)

Next on the bungle the recipe plan? Forget to put the butter out to soften until juuuuust about the time you need to start it. CHECK!

One of the best parts of a 23 day record heat wave? Insta-butter softening!

(Okay, so not quite instant. But by the time I'd measured and chopped everything else, the butter was almost too soft. Way to provide the assist Mother Nature!)

Right, so this is just going swimmingly, huh? So what's next? I know, I know! How about burning yourself on the napalm hot banana as you're trying to get it out of the skin and dropping it into the bowl splattering rum and lemon juice all over everything? CHECK!

This one is so totally my favorite. Check out the splatters up the side of the bowl - and on the measuring cup. Now imagine that over the rest of the counter and even the book. Awesome - lemony yet rummy at the same time!

After that, things worked out a little better. Mash and mix and melt and fold.



And that's right about when I got all confident and let my guard down.

(Bad, bad idea. *sigh*)

I didn't get the whole "drop alternating spoonfuls" instruction so I went with something part way between that and the other technique with rows.

All was good until I got to that second row. I was worried about making the chocolate portion stretch since I'd messed up dividing the batter.

So next? Next, drop a spoonful of the chocolate smack dab on top of the "white" spoonful you just dropped, then try to fix it and manage to glop everything up until it starts to look like mud. CHECK!

And for the crowning achievement? How about missing a huge section of the pan when you're greasing it so the bread breaks all to pieces when it's removed? CHECK!

For all the messups and ugly result, this is one amazing recipe. The flavors are fantastic, and the marbling (on the good side at least) was sharp and attractive. If it came out this great when I was mucking about at the helm, I can only imagine how everyone else managed. Check out A Year in the Kitchen for the recipe and the TWD group to see the other results.

Thanks Ashlee for picking an awesome recipe!