autumn spice banana bread

autumn spice banana bread with cinnamon crumble

i realized that i'm becoming somewhat of an old brown frozen banana hoarder the other day when i opened my freezer and three came tumbling out. (does anybody else do this? freeze old bananas instead of toss them in the trash?) 

old bananas taking up space in my freezer

i had two other bananas going squishy and brown in the fruit bowl, so dinah and i decided to whip up a quick loaf of banana bread. I'm so glad we did!

to be honest, bananas just aren't my favorite. banana flavored desserts, sweets, and baked goods are never my first choice. i throw half of one in my kale and blueberry smoothie and the kids make a sticky mess with the rest, but other than that and sometimes thrown in my purse as an easy kid snack on the go, bananas really aren't popular around here. so, we rarely make banana bread and i definitely didn't have a recipe on hand that i loved.

yesterday when we made this, we woke up too early and it was so chilly in the house! frost on the ground, steamed up windows, and icy cold wood floors. it felt just like an early morning in late november should feel. and i was so happy. we threw on some wool socks and cozy sweaters, turned the oven up to 375, and did a quick internet search for a recipe. we happened to stumble on a keeper. i made minor adjustments, but essentially used the one found here. sweet, but not too sweet, moist, and full of robust fall spice flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. honestly, it was so good, it may compete with my beloved chocolate chip pumpkin bread as the favorite fall loaf of yum. and I have to admit, the house smelled like heaven all day. a perfect warm autumn treat. dinah seemed to agree.

autumn spice banana bread

for the bread:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 heaping tsp cinnamon

dash of cloves

3 ripe mashed bananas

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/3 cup melted butter

1/4 cup chopped walnuts (i didn't do this, but wish i had!)

for the crumb topping:

2 TBS flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground cloves

dash of nutmeg

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 TBS cold butter

preheat oven to 375 degrees, spray one loaf pan with coconut oil cooking spray. in a small bowl, combine crumb topping ingredients. cut in cold butter and set aside. in a mixer, combine bananas, eggs, melted butter, and sugar. in a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients. once mixed slowly add to wet ingredients. stir in chopped optional walnuts. sprinkle crumb topping on top of loaf. bake for 45-50 minutes.