Sour Cream Bacon Banana Bread with Salted Sticky Honey Pecan Glaze

Yep it's a mouthful of a title, but its quite possible the greatest thing I have ever made. I am sure I am not the first person to think of a banana bacon bread, but this sort of evolved for me from scratch.

I had a package of bacon that I needed to use up. I was originally going to crisp up the bacon and make chocolate covered bacon. Just to have around as a snack. Why not? But then I had some bananas that needed to be used. Banana's for some reason, do not last more than a day or two in my apartment without going brown. Banana bread was obviously on the table and then I thought, what if I crumbled bacon into the banana bread? What if I made a sour cream banana bread? And what if I put honey pecans on top? Later, in a last minute decision, I put two pinches of kosher salt into the glaze to add a double punch of sweet and salty like the bread itself. And that's how it happened. That's how the greatest creation of my life came to be.

I didn't expect this recipe to be so coveted. A bunch of people have asked for this because I told Mario Batali I was planning this on twitter. Thanks to his RT, and some friends on FB, the recipe is going up now. The pics were taken with an iphone since it was only an experiment. Forgive the quality.

 

Recipe via CHOW, written by Adela Jung.

Difficulty: Easy | Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins | Active Time: 20 mins | Makes: 1 (9-inch) loaf

 

This banana bread starts as a thick, tangy batter full of mashed banana, and emerges from the oven with a golden-brown crust and a moist, almost cake-like texture.

Game plan: We tested this recipe using a stand mixer, but it could easily be made by just stirring all the ingredients together in a large bowl.

This recipe was featured as part of our Cooking with Winter Ingredients photo gallery.

INGREDIENTS

• Butter, for coating the pan
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting the pan
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 very ripe medium bananas, mashed (about 1 1/4 cups)
• 1/2 cup sour cream

**Added Ingredient: One package of bacon cooked crispy, and crumbled.

 

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Coat a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with butter and dust it with flour, tapping out the excess. Whisk together the measured flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large bowl to aerate and break up any lumps. Set aside.
2. Place the sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until thoroughly combined, about 2 minutes. Add the bananas and sour cream and mix until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the flour mixture, and mix until just combined.
3. Turn the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, the top is golden brown, and the bread is pulling away from the sides of the pan, about 1 hour.
4. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Slide a knife around the perimeter of the pan, invert to release the bread, and cool completely on the wire rack before serving.

** Once it's cooled, place on a large serving plate or cake display with plenty of room for honey pecan glaze to drizzle over the top and sides.

 

Notes:

I tweaked this recipe by using 3 bananas and a little more sour cream. Be mindful of the baking powder. I used a brand new tin of baking soda and it caused the batter to spill over a bit while it was baking. So, put your banana bread pan on a sheet pan to catch anything in case it does spill over.

 

 

Glaze via Mikes Table

• 1.2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1.2 stick (4 Tbsp) butter
• 1/8 cup honey
• 1 cup pecans

**Added Ingredient: 2 pinches of kosher salt or large granualed sea salt.

Chop half cup of pecans and leave some peices whole.

In a heavy saucepan, add the butter (chopped into 2 pieces), sugar, and honey. Bring these to a boil over medium-low and stir frequently until the sugar is dissolved.

**Turn off the heat. Toss in the pecans and salt and stir. Allow to cool but still be slightly runny so you can pour over the top of the bread.

Spoon the mixture on top of the cooled banana bread leaving most of the larger pieces on top of the bread. Allow it to drip down the sides.

Slice and serve.