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This cinnamon banana bread brings a delightful twist to the classic banana bread, combining the warm spice of cinnamon with the natural sweetness of bananas. Once you try this, you might just bid farewell to your old banana bread recipe. It’s addicting!
As a dessert connoisseur and baking enthusiast, I have always enjoyed experimenting with classic recipes. Cinnamon banana bread, with its blend of cinnamon and banana, is a personal favorite. It’s a testament to how a simple twist can transform a traditional recipe into something extraordinary.
The chemistry behind banana bread
The magic of cinnamon banana bread lies in the perfect balance of ingredients and the chemical reactions they undergo during baking. The baking soda acts as a leavening agent, reacting with the acidic sour cream to produce carbon dioxide, which gives the bread its rise and soft texture. The cinnamon not only adds flavor but also contains cinnamaldehyde (organic compound), which reacts with sugar to enhance the bread’s golden brown color.
What makes cinnamon banana bread different from regular banana bread?
The addition of cinnamon and cinnamon chips introduces a warm, spicy flavor that complements the sweetness of the bananas, offering a unique taste experience.
Should you use overripe bananas for bread?
Absolutely! Overripe bananas are perfect, as they are sweeter and mash easily, contributing to the moistness, texture and flavor of the bread. On the contrary, if you use unripe or just ripe bananas, your bread will be more dry and bland. It will also, most likely, have larger chunks of bananas in it because they won’t mash down as well.
How do you ensure banana bread stays moist?
The key is the combination of butter and sour cream, which adds fat and moisture, ensuring the bread remains tender and delicious.
Can cinnamon bread be frozen for later use?
Yes, it freezes well. Wrap it tightly and freeze for up to 3 months. Just make sure to thaw the bread out until it reaches room temperature before enjoying.
What is in cinnamon banana bread?
All-purpose Flour
Builds structure as it absorbs liquids and expands. All-purpose flour falls in the middle of bread flour (high in gluten) and cake flour (low in gluten). It’s exactly what it is named, all-purpose, the most universal flour that can be used in most baked goods.
Baking Soda
Elevates the pH level of your batter or dough. It increases the spread in your treat and encourages browning, which gives the crispy outside and soft inside texture that everyone loves. Baking soda needs both an acid and a liquid to react. Things that will activate your baking soda are: vinegar, fruit juice, molasses, brown sugar, tartar, buttermilk and sour cream. Baking soda only reacts once, which is right when it’s mixed into your batter or dough. The soda creates little air bubbles all throughout your treat. When the air bubbles get heated up in the oven, they expand.
Fine Sea Salt
Enhances flavor, adds balance, masks any bitter flavors. Salt is the most powerful and oldest preservative. Always make sure to use fine sea salt so it melts down at the right speed in the heat of the oven. If you use larger granule salt, it will not melt down fully when baked and will leave salt crystals throughout your treat, making it crunch like you dropped it into sand.
Cinnamon
A seasoning that adds a nice spice to your treat.
Brown Sugar
Is granulated sugar with a little molasses mixed in. Molasses is a somewhat smoky flavored natural sweetener, which makes brown sugar a bit sweeter than granulated sugar. Brown sugar draws more moisture into your treat, keeping it softer for longer. It’s also more acidic, which means it will help activate your baking soda.
Granulated Sugar
Adds sweetness, provides a caramelized flavor and crisp texture. Sugar assists with rising when creamed with butter. It helps add moisture to your treat and helps it evenly spread as it melts into a liquid in the heat of the oven. Sugar also helps with naturally preserving your baked treat.
Unsalted Butter
It is always important to use unsalted butter when baking. If you use salted butter, you have no way of knowing how much salt you are adding to your dough or batter and it will result in an overly salted treat.
Butter adds fats to your dough or batter which helps with moistness, flavor and texture. Butter melts at body temperature, which creates a ‘melt in your mouth’ sensation.
When baking with butter the temperature is important. If the butter is too warm your treat will melt down too fast and overspread in the oven, leaving you with a greasy, flat mess. If your butter is too cold it will have the opposite problem and not melt down enough, leaving your treat too thick.
Sour Cream
Is a very fatty dairy product. The extra fat will make your treat more moist and rich. It also is acidic so it will help baking soda react, which helps your treat rise.
Eggs
Adds both a protein (egg whites) and fat (egg yolks). The egg whites help with rising because, when foamed, little air pockets get trapped inside the egg white mixture. The water content in egg whites encourages steam while baking, which helps with gluten formation, resulting in nice and thick treats. Egg yolks have emulsifying properties that bring batters and doughs together and help them from collapsing. Unless otherwise specified, always use large eggs.
Vanilla Extract
When using pure vanilla extract, as opposed to imitation flavoring, it will add the deep rich flavor that everybody wants in a treat.
Overripe Bananas
Provide sweetness and moisture to your treat. You want your bananas overripe so that they are extra sweet, easy to mash and add more moisture than ripe or unripe bananas.
Cinnamon Chips
Made from sugar, palm oil, cinnamon, non-fat dry milk, and soy lecithin. They add sweet bursts of cinnamon flavor throughout your dessert.
How to store cinnamon banana bread
To maintain freshness, store the cinnamon banana bread in an airtight container, at room temperature, for up to 3 days. If you want to store the bread for longer, you can wrap it tightly and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Just make sure to let your bread thaw completely to room temperature before enjoying.
Recommended Equipment
- Light metal bread pan – these bake the most evenly
- Mixing bowls
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Cinnamon Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 4 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 over ripe bananas
- 1 cup cinnamon chips
- cinnamon sugar mix ratio is personal preference
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- In a bowl mix flour, soda, salt & cinnamon
- In another bowl mix sugars & butter
- Add sour cream and mix until combined
- Add eggs & vanilla
- Pour wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and fold
- In bowl that had wet ingredients in it, mash bananas
- Add bananas to batter and fold until combined
- Fold in cinnamon chips
- Separate batter into two greased bread pans (8 1/2"x4")
- Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture on top (you decide how much)
- Bake for 42 minutes, or until you stick a fork in the middle and only a few crumbs come out on the fork
- Cool for 20 minutes
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?
I’d love to see it! Follow @_mrs.madi_ on Instagram and tag your photos with #mrsmadi.
Erin Nelson
Warning, once you start eating this bread you won’t stop! My daughter brought this home from Mrs. Madi baking camp and it was incredible! My daughter was getting mad I couldn’t stop eating it. Try it, you won’t regret it!
Madison Reid
Oh, thank you so much!