banana cinnamon date bread

You know when you buy bananas and you don't eat them fast enough and they become past the point of eating raw, but you're too lazy to make banana bread right away? Well, freeze 'em! I had three bananas in my fridge for well over two months. They were perfectly fine. Super frozen, but fine. Run them over cold water to loosen the skin and then you're ready to make bread. I used olive oil because that's what I had on hand, but canola, vegetable oil or butter would work fine, too. For the sweetener, I used barley malt syrup which is made from soaking barley in water and then heating to prevent from sprouting, which is similar to the process of creating beer. Thus, this bread has a rich tasting, almost stout beer taste, like Guinness. 

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 barley malt syrup*

3/4 cup dates, chopped

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup wheat germ

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 3 tablespoons of brown sugar (for dusting on top of loaf)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until very much mashed. Add lemon juice, oil, barley malt and dates. (Tip: Use the same measuring cup for the oil and barley malt. The oil will help the barley malt come out easily, because that stuff is damn sticky.) Mix. In a separate large bowl, stir together the flour, wheat germ, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and mix together until just mixed. Pour into oiled loaf pan. Dust with brown sugar/cinnamon mixture and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Test with a knife to see if done. Makes 1 loaf. 

*You can buy barley malt syrup in any health food store. It's pretty reasonable and much less labor intensive than actually soaking your own barley and making syrup. Because seriously, who's going to do that?