Banana Nut Bread & Muffins
My sister-in-law passed along the original Special Banana Nut Bread Recipe from taste of home to me. This banana nut bread with its orange glaze is very moist and oh so delicious. I made this recipe with a few changes. I used banana and more nuts. There’s just something I love about muffins, perhaps the fact that they are these perfect individual servings of goodness. So instead of making 2 loaves of banana bread I made 1 loaf and 1 tray of muffins. Below is my altered ingredient list.
Ingredients:
-banana bread-
3/4 Cup Butter, softened (12 tbsp)
1 Package Cream Cheese (8 oz.), softened
1 1/2 Cups Sugar
2 Eggs
5 Medium-Sized Ripe Bananas, mashed
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
3 Cups Chopped Pecans, divided
-orange glaze-
1 Cup Confectioners’ Sugar
6 Tablespoons Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice
1 Tablespoon Finely Grated Orange Peel
Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl combine the butter, cream cheese, and sugar.
2. Mix in one egg at a time and then add the mashed bananas to the mixture. Add the vanilla extract.
3. Combine all the dry ingredients separately, the flour, baking powder,baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the banana mix as it continues to blend. Add 1 1/2-2 cups of your chopped pecans (the remaining pecans will go on top of the bread).
4. Transfer the batter into a greased bread pan and/or into a muffin tray. This recipe will make 2 8″x4″ loaves of bread, 1 8″x4″ loaf and 12 muffins, or 2 dozen muffins. Sprinkle the remaining chopped pecans over the batter. Bake the loaf at 350 degrees F for about 1 hour -1 hour & 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. The cupcakes will be ready a lot sooner, 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
5. While the bread is baking make your orange glaze by mixing the Confectioners’ Sugar, the fresh squeezed orange juice, and the fine orange zest. As soon as you take the muffins and then the banana bread out of the oven pour the orange glaze evenly over them and allow them to cool. Serve at room temperature.
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