Caramelized Banana and Caramel Bread

You may be thinking ‘Caramelized Banana and Caramel Bread’?? Or maybe you thought it was a misprint or something of an oxymoron. No, no. I assure you it is not a typo or an oxymoron. Maybe it’s a little crazy but hey, life is crazy sometimes. I found this recipe on Pinterest during one of my pinning binges. Don’t you just love Pinterest? It really aids in my OCD tendencies. I always have leftover brown bananas thanks to my husband so I make a lot of banana bread and was getting bored with it. I wanted to find a way to jazz it up. The caramelized bananas in this recipe should have been enough but no…I wanted more. I had half a bag of Kraft Caramel bits leftover from some delicious salted caramel chocolate chip cookies I made for my husband’s co-workers. This is where it gets crazy. I decided to caramelize the bananas AND add the caramel bits. I made a loaf and included it in with a “Welcome to the Neighborhood” gift basket for our new neighbors. Curtis stopped by to thank us for the basket and offered this rave review.

“My wife is a good baker but that bread is better than anything she’s made,” he said. Yikes.

¾ teaspoon baking soda

3-4 bananas mashed

¼ cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter

½ cup milk

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 cup Kraft caramel bits

Kraft Caramel Bits

First, melt the butter in small sauté pan. Add mashed bananas and brown sugar. Stir around until mashed bananas are slightly caramelized.

Caramelized Bananas

Next, combine dry ingredients (flour and baking soda) in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, milk vinegar and slightly cooled banana mixture. Mix wet and dry ingredients and combine well. Add in 1 cup of the Kraft caramel bits. Pour mixture into a well-greased loaf pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes until golden brown.