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Red brown Banana Bread studded with bright red cranberries. sliced and placed on a light wooden cutting board. A pale grey cheked napkin behind, and a black knife handle seen to the right. All on a green background
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Easy Cranberry Banana Bread From Ripe Bananas

This Cranberry Banana Bread has cranberries in every bite, contrasting with the sweet bananas. Browning the butter gives the bread its rich colour, and vanila and cinnamon add to the flavour.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Baking Time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 25 minutes
Course: Bread, Dessert
Cuisine: American, british
Keyword: Banana Bread, Cranberry Banana Bread
Servings: 1 9" x 5" Loaf
Calories: 3188kcal
Author: Sujata Shukla

Ingredients

For the Bread:

  • ¾ cup unsalted butter /150 gms
  • 1 ½ cups banana Very Ripe/300 gms when mashed
  • 2 cups all purpose flour / Indian maida/ 250 gms
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
  • ½ teaspoon ginger powder
  • ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
  • 2 large eggs
  • ¾ cup brown sugar /150 gms
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup plain yogurt / curd
  • 1 cup cranberries, fresh, frozen or dry /Halved or sliced/ 100 gms

Instructions

Preparation

  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees F)
  • Grease a 9" × 5" loaf pan with butter/ oil/ oil spray and line with parchment paper. Leave two inches of parchment paper jutting out over the two long sides of the pan, as the bread will rise as it bakes.
    Halve the cranberries or slice them into large chunks.

Browning The Butter

  • Heat a small pan and melt the butter over low heat, to keep it from burning. As it melts, the butter will foam and slowly turn colour to a light brown.
    Keeping stirring as the butter browns.
    When it is brown all over (about 6- 7 minutes on low flame) remove the butter from the heat and immediately transfer to a small heat proof or stainless steel bowl, so that the browning stops the butter is not overcooked.
    Set it aside to cool. As it cools, the foam will start to disappear. You will get about½ cup from ¾ cup of butter.

Mixing the Batter

  • Peel and mash the bananas so that no lumps remain. You don't need to mash them smooth though, just crush them so that they can be mixed with the other ingredients.
  • In a large mixing bowl, sieve together the dry ingredients viz. flour, baking soda, salt and the spices - cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom. Stir with a spatula so they mix well.
  • In a smaller/ medium sized bowl, beat the two eggs together. Add brown sugar, whisk it in completely.
    Add vanilla extract and yogurt, whisk well. Add the mashed bananas and whisk them in. Check that the browned butter has cooled, and then whisk it in.
  • Add all the wet ingredients together to the dry ingredients, folding them in gently. Check that all the flour including at the bottom of the bowl is now wet.
    The dough should not be stirred much or whisked at this stage, just make sure all the ingredients are mixed and there is no dry flour or pockets of flour.
    Lastly, fold in the cranberries, again not stirring much. Reserve 7-8 cranberry halves to top the bread.

Baking the Cranberry Banana Bread

  • Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan which has been lined with parchment paper. It should fill to about ¾ of the pan.
    Drop the reserved cranberry halves along the surface of the batter.
  • Place the pan in the heated oven on the middle rack, and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Check after 50 minutes to see that the sides are brown and a toothpick/ skewer inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean, without batter sticking to it.
  • Remove from the cranberry banana bread from the oven. Let it rest in the pan for 15 minutes, and then move it to a wire rack to cool.
    Slice the bread only after it has cooled completely. I leave it overnight to cool. Store wrapped in foil, in the fridge. Serve warm.

Nutrition

Serving: 100grams | Calories: 3188kcal | Carbohydrates: 423g | Protein: 44g | Fat: 152g | Saturated Fat: 92g | Cholesterol: 701mg | Sodium: 2485mg | Potassium: 1635mg | Fiber: 18g | Sugar: 196g | Vitamin A: 4994IU | Vitamin C: 33mg | Calcium: 350mg | Iron: 15mg