Avocado Banana Bread

I came across this beautiful recipe while browsing Tasty Kitchen for ideas with avocados and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to try it out! I'm always on the lookout for moist and flavorful banana bread recipes that my boys will enjoy, and getting to use one of our creamy and ripe avocados in the process sounded like a bonus to me. The only real change I made was to replace the oil in the original recipe with applesauce and it worked very well for this bread. I only had to bake for 65 minutes, and it was perfectly browned and cooked through.

I, like many others I'm sure, keep a stash of overly ripe bananas (peeled) in my freezer in a Ziploc and love getting to pull a few out for recipes like this one. They work so great for bread recipes or smoothies! Also, a tip, for those who haven't tried this, when you're measuring honey out, spray the inside of the measuring cup with a little cooking spray and it will slide right out instead of sticking to the cup!

I LOVED this recipe - it makes a nice large loaf of bread that bakes up perfectly in the loaf pan, and the flavor and texture were perfect! I had a slice after it had cooled about 10 minutes on the cooling rack (slathered in some butter) and my hubby and I both helped devour a nice thick, warm slice. It was wonderful! It was soft, tender, and chewy all at the same time. Great textures, and the flavor was really nice. Not a super strong banana flavor, but very nice and I would definitely make this one again!

Avocado Banana Bread slightly adapted from MonkeyDudesMom on Tasty Kitchen originally seen on A Stool at the Counter

Ingredients
2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (about 2 small to medium) mashed, very ripe bananas
1/2 cup (about 1 medium) mashed avocado
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup applesauce
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
3. In mixer, beat together banana and avocado until well blended and smooth.
4. Blend in honey, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla, scraping the sides down as needed.
5. Slowly stir in the dry ingredients just until blended.
6. Pour and smooth into a well greased loaf pan.
7. Bake for 65-75 minutes, until toothpick or knife comes out clean, place on cooling rack. Remove from loaf pan when cool enough to handle and finish cooling on a wire rack.