Banana Streusel Bread

What can I say about this banana bread recipe other than it is SUPER moist and pure deliciousness!  What do you do when you get back from a 4 day work trip only to find that there is a whole bunch of bananas in your pantry that are way overripe.  Make banana bread of course!!!

I was never a really big fan of banana bread but I could not justify just throwing away that once gorgeous bunch of bananas.  I was wondering what I could do to fancy up your typical loaf of banana bread and I though well who doesn’t love a crumbly streusel topping.  A delicious mixture of butter, brown sugar and walnuts on top of an amazingly moist loaf of banana bread goodness!  Can you say ADDICTIVE!!!

This bread is simple to prepare and fills your home with this amazing aroma of sugary banana goodness.  Even my daughter would skip into the kitchen to say how yummy it smelled in the house.  Which was a complete surprise seeing as how neither of my kids like bananas.

Waiting to remove the loaf from the pas was sheer agony, but if you remove it too soon it will literally just fall apart on you.  So needless to say it is well worth the wait.

Pour yourself a big glass of cold milk and enjoy this moist delicious banana bread!

Ingredients:

For the bread:

• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ Cup unsalted butter, softened
• ½ Cup light brown sugar
• ½ Cup white sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 4 very ripe bananas, mashed with a potato masher
• ¼ Cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ Cup walnuts, chopped

For the streusel topping:

• 3 Tablespoons flour
• ¼ Cup light brown sugar
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 Tablespoon unsalted butter, slightly softened and cut into pieces
• ¼ Cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.

For the streusel topping- Add the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a medium bowl and mix until combined. Cut in the butter using your fingers, until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in chopped walnuts. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well in between each addition. With a wooden spoon, stir in the mashed bananas, buttermilk and vanilla. Slowly stir in the dry ingredients. Once the flour is incorporated, stop! Do NOT over stir. Gently stir in walnuts. The batter will be thick.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over the batter. Bake the bread for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool 10-15 minutes in the pan.

Remove the bread from the pan and continue to cool on the wire rack.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Adapted from Yummy Addiction