Photo: Emma Haberman
By Emma Haberman
I have a new best friend. She’s small, blonde and lives on my kitchen counter. Yes friends, last weekend I became the proud owner of a yellow KitchenAid stand mixer, and I couldn’t be more excited. My first thought was to run to the kitchen to bake bread, croissants and cakes (with no hands!)…but before I got carried away I thought I should introduce my new best friend to my other best friend: bacon.
Photo: Emma Haberman
Bacon and I have been friends since day one. It was a part of every Sunday and holiday morning breakfast, and is always a comforting treat. I’ve never met a meat eater who doesn’t agree that bacon elevates almost any dish to a new realm of delicious, and even some vegetarians agree (I hear bacon does wonders for a veggie burger). For my first KitchenAid experiment I thought I’d mix bacon with another of my favorite comfort foods.
Photo: Emma Haberman
Banana bread is quick and easy to make, and a great way to use those bananas that are quickly browning in your fruit bowl. This is a basic banana bread recipe with bacon and chocolate chips thrown into the mix.
Photo: Emma Haberman
I added a couple teaspoons of the leftover grease from the bacon pan to get that smoky flavor into the batter. The combination is delicious, and the combined smells of bacon cooking and banana bread baking really can’t be beat.
Photo: Emma Haberman
Banana Bread with Bacon and Chocolate Chips Recipe
Adapted from Bon Appétit
Ingredients:
1½ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
¾ cup sugar
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3 ripe bananas, mashed
6 strips of bacon
2 teaspoons leftover bacon grease
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 9” x 5” metal loaf pan. In a medium sized skillet, fry the bacon until golden brown. Let cool and crisp, then crumble into chocolate chip-sized pieces (you should have about ¾ cup crumbled bacon). Combine bacon with chocolate chips in a small bowl. Whisk the dry ingredients in a medium bowl to blend.
In a large bowl, or your new friend KitchenAid, beat the butter and the bacon grease until fluffy. Gradually sift in sugar until blended. Beat in eggs, mashed bananas and vanilla extract. Beat in flour mixture and mix until well-blended. Spoon ⅓ of batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with half of chocolate chip-bacon mixture. Spoon ⅓ of batter over the chip layer. Sprinkle with remaining chip mixture, and cover with remaining batter. Run knife through batter in zigzag pattern.
Bake bread until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Flip out of pan onto rack and cool. Serve with plain yogurt and fresh fruit.
Photo: Emma Haberman
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This is something I NEVER would have thought of, but it sounds like it would be delicious and easy. It has all of my favorites. Thx for sharing such great recipes. (congrats on your new best friend too)
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