Banana Bread Sticks

Submitted by Chef Joey Z.

"This recipe originated from someone at CD Kitchens, but as usual I changed it to suit my tastes. I doubled the recipe. Basically what you're doing here is making Banana Bread, cutting it in pieces and baking it again, much like you would biscotti. It took longer then I anticipated to bake these the second time. I ended up leaving them in the oven for 3 hours, then I turned the oven off and left them in there over night. They were very crispy by the next morning. I coated them with a chocolate glaze. These are different from biscotti in that they are not as dense."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 30mins
• Ingredients: 9
• Yields: 2 loaves
• Serves: 24-29

ingredients

• 1⁄2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup light oil
• 2 eggs (I used EnerG egg replacer)
• 2 cups mashed bananas
• 1⁄2 cup nuts (roasted, chopped and optional)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or other flavor optional)
• 3 1⁄4 cups spelt flour (or unbleached)
• 3 3⁄4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F If you've decided to use them, roast your nuts for 7-10 minutes. Remove and cool.
2. Grease two medium loaf pans.
3. Mash the bananas and set aside.
4. Chop the nuts (I used macadamia nuts), set aside.
5. Put the flour, baking powder and baking soda in your food processor and mix to incorporate. Put in a large bowl.
6. Put the brown sugar and oil in the bowl of the food processor and combine. Add the eggs or egg replacer. Process until combined. Add the vanilla and give it a couple more pulses. Add the mashed banana.
7. Pulse once to combine.
8. Add the chopped nuts to the flour mixture and mix them to coat.
9. Add the wet ingredients to the dry until just combined. Don't over mix.
10. Divide between the two loaf pans.
11. Bake for 1 hour or until the loaves are done.
12. I found 40 minutes was sufficient, but it may vary for different ovens. I used a wooden kabob stick to test my loaves. Once the stick came out clean I removed the loaves from the oven.
13. Turn the stove temperature down to 200°F.
14. Cool the banana bread in the loaf pans for about 15 minutes then turn them out onto metal racks and cool.
15. Make sure they are cold before you cut them as they will fall apart.
16. Using a serrated knife, cut each loaf in about 1 inch slices, then cut the slices in half so they resemble a biscotti cookie.
17. I placed them cut side down on a metal cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake for at least another hour. I found that more time is needed. Be patient it might take a while.
18. The slices should be hard and crunchy when finished. Store in a tightly covered container. I'm going to glaze these with chocolate. :0).