Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Ladies Who Brunch

Brunch: Blueberry Banana Bread and Fruit Salad

I'm cherishing every day of downtime between the end of the school year and the start of my summer internship. Novels, baking, blogging--oh my! Today, the ladies who helped me slog through a year of economics came over for brunch to celebrate our freedom. These gals remind me why I came to grad school--over a leisurely meal of asparagus frittata, fruit salad, and blueberry-banana bread, our conversation ranged from the politics of Venezuela and Russia, to the recent Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Diaz to good old fashioned girly gossip.

Blueberry Banana Bread

A few moments ago I unwrapped the leftover blueberry bread for a quick snack--this stuff is addictive and actually somewhat healthy. A nearby market has been on berry-overload for the past week--hence the overflowing fruit salad, whose leftovers, as soon as I finish this post, will complete my late afternoon noshing.

Blueberry Banana Bread
adapted from Joy of Cooking

1 c. white flour
1/3 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
5 1/3 tbsp. butter, room temperature
2/3 c. pure cane sugar
2 large eggs
3 mashed very ripe bananas (2 if they're big)
1 pint blueberries

Topping:
Oats
Brown sugar
Butter

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a loaf pan.

If you want to make the crumbly topping, mix together approximately 1/4 c. oats, 1/4 c. brown sugar and enough butter to make it stick together (sorry! didn't measure when I did this!).

Whisk together flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. In a separate large bowl beat butter and sugar together for 2-3 minutes. Beat in the flour mixture into the butter-sugar stuff until blended. Gradually beat in the eggs. Then fold in bananas and blueberries.

Pour into loaf pan. Top with crumbly topping if you want. Bake for about 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let pan cool on a rack for about 10 minutes before taking bread out of the pan.

5 comments:

Sydney said...

That blueberry banana bread looks so good!(and as you said, somewhat healthy) I'd imagine you could used any sort of berry in with that. I might just have to give that a try.

Erin S. said...

Sydney--Yes, I think any berry would do--and the whole wheat cancels out the butter, right??!?

Sydney said...

Of course it does! it cancels out all the somewhat unhealthy ingredients. Whole wheat is amazing like that!! It's pretty much a miracle worker these days...

Angelique said...

Wow, I love that recipe! I hope to try it this weekend with a wee more whole wheat flour and some apple sauce in place of some of the butter in the bread, that will make me feel less guilty about the buttery crumbly oat topping!

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