I never thought I would say this, but I’m currently going through a strong aversion to peanut butter- I haven’t had the stuff in a whole week (a definite record)! Aren’t food likes and dislikes weird? I was literally eating peanut butter on a whole wheat tortilla every single day and now I just eat the tortilla plain and even that is a chore. In place of my peanut butter obsession is deli turkey and ham (hello, sodium!). I could eat a pound a day if I let myself. And brown rice California Rolls from Trader Joe’s. Oh, and fresh spring rolls I’m quite sure I’ll be visiting this topic again in the near future.
Thankfully, I made this bread right before said aversion began. I found the original recipe for this in The Ultimate Peanut Butter Book. It’s a great book that you can get used for super cheap on Alibris or Half. If you don’t have whole wheat flour, using solely all-purpose is totally fine. Rum extract is also an extra, so just omit it if you’d like. It’s just one of my favorite extracts.
Peanut Butter Banana Bread
1 cup all purpose flour, plus extra for the pan
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
heaping 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup crunchy peanut butter (I used Jif)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cool unsalted butter, cut into 2 pieces, plus extra for the pan
2 eggs, room temperature
2 large, ripe bananas, mashed & thawed if frozen (mine were)
1 tablespoon vanilla
3/4 teaspoon rum extract
Heat the oven to 35o degrees. Lightly butter and flour a 5 x 9- inch loaf pan; set aside. Whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, baking power and salt in a medium bowl until evenly mixed; set aside.
Beat the peanut butter, sugar and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until light and creamy, about 1 minute. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then beat in the mashed bananas, vanilla and rum extract until smooth. Turn off the beaters, add the flour mixture and beat at a very low speed until a wet, sticky batter comes together. Spoon into the prepared loaf pan, gently getting the batter into the corners and smoothing the top.
Bake until golden brown, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 50 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn the bread out of the pan and continue cooling on the rack until at room temperature. Slice and eat!