Banana Bread 2020

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter, plus some to grease pan

¾ cup (75g) pitted and chopped medjool dates*

2 eggs

2 tablespoons tahini

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 -6 super-ripe, spotty bananas (need about 2 cups after you set aside half of one banana)

2 cups (256g) all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

* Make sure you are using fresh, plump, soft Medjool dates. About 5-6 large = 75g. Do not substitute any other kind of dates, as most are too dry, puny, or both. Only Medjools will mush nicely into the butter and impart sweetness throughout the bread.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Generously grease a standard loaf pan with butter -- get in the corners.

2. Break up all but one-half of one banana in a bowl. Set the half aside. Heat the bananas in the microwave for about a minute** -- just until they smell banana-y, but are not cooking.

3. In another bowl combine dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda) with a fork, and set aside.

4. In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat butter until creamy/fluffy. Add well-chopped dates and beat until they are combined and you have a light brown date butter with only a few small solid bits of dates remaining. (Should come together in a few minutes.)

5. Add eggs, one at a time until blended in the butter. Then add tahini, vanilla and bananas until batter is mostly smooth; some small lumps are fine, even desirable.

6. Take the bowl off the mixer, scrape down the sides with a spatula and stir in the flour mixture. Combine until no dry spots remain, but get this done with as little action as possible -- don’t over-mix.

If you are the sort of person who likes nuts, chocolate chips, or other distractions in her banana bread: Now is the time to stir them in. No more than ¾ cup (~75g) please.

7. Spread batter into the loaf pan. Slice remaining banana half and distribute slices on top, taking care not to submerge them. Don’t bother making fancy/cute patterns; items will shift during baking.

8. Bake for about an hour, checking after 50 minutes for doneness (if a chopstick comes out clean). Let cool as long as you can stand to wait (10 minutes?) then turn out of the pan, and serve in warm slices.

** Learned the banana-microwave trick from Joanne Chang’s book Baking with Less Sugar, which also has a great (dateless) banana bread recipe.