Baking Bananas For Extra Sweetness

Are there times when you want to make banana bread, banana muffins or something else with bananas?  Many times we don't have any bananas on hand or they are much too green.  Bananas freeze very well for baking.  If you have some bananas that are past their prime for eating, freeze them.  You can either peel them and put them in a plastic bag or freeze them with the peel on.  If you do this, you will always have the main ingredient for baking.  The very ripe bananas are the sweetest and make the best baked goods.  If you have bananas that are too green, there is a way to make them suitable for baking.  My example bananas are almost ripe enough but I wanted them slightly riper.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Put the bananas on a baking sheet covered with foil or parchment paper.  You need the paper because as they bake, the bananas give off a sticky liquid which sticks to an unlined baking pan.

Bake for about 25 minutes.  They will turn completely black on the outside.

Let the bananas cool before peeling.  They will be very hot inside.  When cool, peel the banana.  It will be very soft inside and can be used to bake your banana bread or muffins.

I had to ripen my bananas because I had a recipe to try.  I often watch Kelly and Ryan in the morning.  Recently Kelly made banana pancakes.  They are gluten free, and I am always looking for easy recipes for my daughter.

Banana Pancakes

3 bananas, mashed
2 eggs
1/2 cup almond butter
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. vanilla
a dash of sea salt

Mix these ingredients together to make the batter and make the pancakes as you do any pancake.  They turned out fine, and they looked like a pancake.

I have to say they were good.  I can understand if a person can't have a "real" pancake and has to be gluten free, this is an excellent option.  It's similar to the pumpkin pancakes I wrote about five years ago.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/09/pumpkin-pancakes-and-crockpot-pumpkin.html

As for myself, I like pancakes made with flour, oil, sugar and eggs.  Maybe that's why I weigh what I do and Kelly Ripa weighs the same as I did as a small child.  Even if you don't like the pancakes, the method for baking the bananas is an excellent one.