JoeSoCookbook: reduced sugar

Last year when I started learning to bake I was making a lot of pies. When I wanted to try something different I thought I would try banana bread -- partly because it was a size pan that I had, a nice 5x9in glass pan, and partly because I happened to have some bananas laying around at the time. It was really easy to make, and I've probably made it 4 or 5 times since then...

Today I cooked a big breakfast for the first time in my new apartment, and I wanted to keep it going after I ate. So I went right into the banana bread, took some good pictures, and experimented by adding blueberries.

Start by smashing about 4 bananas in a big bowl. I decided to add some blueberries as well. One of the things I try to do is add more fruit and reduce the amount of sugar I use.

Then all you do is add the following ingredients one after the other, put it in a buttered pan and bake for an hour at 350:

3-4 bananas
blueberries or other fruit (optional)
1/3 C. melted butter
3/4 C. sugar -- I reduced this to only 1/2 a cup, which is healthier (plus I used the blueberries)
1 egg, beaten
1 t. vanilla
1 t. baking soda
salt
1 1/2 C. flour

That's it! I used a 5x9 inch glass baking pan and baked for an hour. It turned out splendidly, and the added fruit is a total bonus. I do encourage drinking while cooking/baking. Today I enjoyed some Magic Hat HIPA.

I like sorting my music in iTunes into various playlists for different moods, events, subgenres, etc, and one category I have is cooking lists. So today I went with a classic, "Cooking List 01," which features Chuck Berry, Eminem, Cake, Ella Fitzgerald, and mc chris, among others.

Check out the rest of the pictures: