Hello there– We have a treasure sitting in our fridge– it’s a huge jug of real maple syrup fresh from upstate New York! Our daughter-in-law’s Dad, Alfie is a warm and wonderful guy. Every year he taps trees around his town and in the spring is joined by family a friends at in the maple sugar shack to boil down gallons of maple syrup. Then being the generous guys that he is, he mails big jugs to people far and wide (including lucky us!!).
So this little recipe uses a precious half cup of that lovely syrup and which accounts for it’s rich and wonderful flavor. Plus while it’s baking in the oven, for kitchen smells like that New York maple sugar shack– maple luscious!
MAPLE WALNUT BANANA BREAD
2 large ripe bananas
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup canola oil
1 egg
1 tsp. maple extract (optional)*
3 tab. milk
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped and divided
3 tab. brown sugar
In a large mixing bowl, smash the bananas to a creamy substance. Then mix in the maple syrup, oil, egg, maple extract and milk until all blended. Add in the flour, baking powder and salt and stir it all together. Finally mix 3/4 cup of the walnuts.
Spoon the mixture into a 5″ by 9″ loaf pan** that has been sprayed with cooking spray.
Mix together the brown sugar and the remaining 1/2 cup of walnuts and sprinkle them over the loaf of banana bread.
Bake it all up at 350 degrees for 50 -55 minutes until it’s browned and a tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Delicious warm from the oven– or toasted the next day for breakfast with a smear of butter!!
*maple extract is optional– it just adds a little more maple flavoring.
** I used 2 half size loaf pans and cooked it about 5 minutes less.