buttermilk banana bread with cinnamon honey glaze

 

I know I've talked before about how I have a thing for buying bananas, and forgetting to eat them before they start turning brown. Well, after months of abstaining from buying bananas for this very reason (especially as I have at least five bananas in the freezer, just waiting to be turned into banana bread) I made the same mistake. Why do I never learn?

Well, it goes back to that whole thing I was talking about before: positive reinforcement. See, when I saw that the bananas had developed brown spots and were therefore as good as dead to me as a snack on their own, I of course used it as an excuse to try out some new banana bread. I was rewarded for not only purchasing unnecessary bananas but allowing them to languish on my counter with what I call luxury banana bread - any banana bread that calls for a full half cup of butter.

I adapted the recipe from Mini Baker's banana cupcakes with cinnamon honey buttercream frosting. These cupcakes sounded stupidly good, but unfortunately if I were to make 18 frosted cupcakes, I would probably end up eating 17 of them. Given that I'm cursed (blessed?) with a partner who does not especially like treats, it seemed like the right thing to do to reduce the sugar (as usual) and adapt this into a banana bread that I could have much more help with. To protect my waistline.

banana bread with cinnamon honey glaze

1/2 cup butter

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas

1/4 cup buttermilk

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

glaze
1/2 cup icing sugar
3 tablespoons plain yogurt
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Bread: Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a loaf pan with foil and grease it.
2. In a medium bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, bananas and vanilla, stirring well to combine. Mix in buttermilk.
3. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Do not overmix!
4. Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
5. While that's baking, make your glaze by stirring together all the ingredients in a small bowl. Glaze your loaf while still warm.