Salted Peanuts ‘n Caramel Banana Bread

By mitzzy

The riper the bananas, the better the banana bread. The other tip is to hand-mash the bananas (no food processor) for the best textured banana bread. Marrying banana bread with the upbeat flavor duo of salty and sweet (peanuts and caramel) shows you how classic baking can become cutting edge with a few twists and tweaks.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract"
• 1/3 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• Pinch nutmeg and cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 2/3 cup chopped salted peanuts
• 1/2 cup toffee, caramel or butterscotch chips
• Salted Caramel Peanut Topping
• 1/4 cup shredded sweetened coconut
• 1/2 cup chopped salted peanuts
• 1/4 cup toffee bits or caramel/butterscotch chips
• 2 tablespoons caramel sundae topping

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 F. Generously spray a 12 cup Bundt pan or two 9 by 5 inch loaf pans. Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet.

In a mixer bowl, cream the butter with the sugar until fluffy. Add in eggs, then vanilla, yogurt, milk and mashed bananas, scraping down often to blend batter evenly.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves,salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

Stir dry ingredients into batter. Fold in coconut, nuts, peanuts and toffee, caramel or butterscotch chips making sure ingredients are well-blended, 1-2 minutes. Spoon into baking pan.

For Salted Caramel Peanut Topping, mix coconut, peanuts and toffee or butterscotch chips in a small bowl. Place topping on top of cake. Drizzle on caramel topping.

Bake 50-55 minutes, until cake tests done. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan and drizzle on more caramel topping, if desired.

Serves 8-10