Roasty Toasty Banana Bread

Happy Leap Day (yesterday) y'all! A whole extra day in the year which is essentially a freebie from Father Time as a reward for making it through the past three years. "Oh! I see that you endured 2009, 2010, AND 2011 without an extra day in February. Well this year, because you were SOOO good, I will gift you a whole extra day. Use it well and keep up the good work!" Yes, that is in fact how I think Father Time would talk too. All jovial and saint like, much like Santa Claus.

So what did I do to celebrate this extra day (disregarding the tornado warning and torrential downpour that soaked me to the bone for the rest of the day)? I made banana bread. But not just ANY banana bread, roasted banana bread. I know! Get back Jack, this stuff is good! I had read on one of my various food blogs that roasting bananas before adding them to banana pudding is a great way to develop natural sugars in the fruit and thus make it taste more banana-y. So, as I am not a huge banana pudding fan, applied this technique to banana bread. 

Bananas before the oven...

... and roasted bananas after the oven.

After mashing and adding to the rest of my wet ingredients, which included a lot less sugar because of the banana's now more pronounced natural sugars, I tossed it with some flour and nuts and threw it in the oven to wait the excruciatingly long 40 minutes for the loaf to be done. I have already decided that whatever is left of this beautiful loaf will soon turn into roasted banana french toast - more on that later!

Wet and dry, moments before marrying and making beautiful banana bread babies.

Roasted Banana Bread

Wet:
2 medium bananas, with their ends cut off
2 TB agave nectar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup low fat buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Dry:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup toasted and chopped walnuts

Place bananas on a baking sheet and roast at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until skins are browned and inside fruit is warmed and fragrant. Peel bananas and mash with a fork. Mix in a bowl with all wet ingredients, mix completely. Set aside. Mix all dry ingredients in a separate, larger bowl. Pour wet into dry and stir just to combine. Pour in a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, or until center comes out clean when poked with a toothpick.