An Elevated Take on Banana Bread

Does banana bread require elevating? Read on to find out.

I made this banana bread while hosting friends on a winter weekend in the middle of February. I always like to have some kind of snacking cake when we have house guests. 


I was planning to make a polenta and egg bake for Sunday brunch, and I also had a bunch of black bananas that I needed to use. When planning a menu I like to keep things cohesive, but I was struggling to find a way to make banana bread work with my menu. Then I remembered I had made a banana bread with mascarpone cheese years ago. 


In my mind, using mascarpone cheese gave the banana bread more of an Italian mood – thus making it a perfect partner for my polenta bake. 

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I went into my Notes app on my phone and found the recipe. But I seemed to recall having mixed feelings about this banana bread.


The reason is this: Banana bread is one of those recipes that you can health-ify with little to no detriment to the taste. Meaning, I can use whole wheat flour, no refined sugar, etc. and it's always delicious.


This recipe, on the other hand, contains a stick of butter, nearly a cup of brown sugar, and a container of mascarpone cheese. 


In return, you're left with a highly decadent and delicious banana bread. Banana bread that's more of a treat, more like a banana cake. The texture is rich and luscious, almost creamy.

The question I found myself asking was, is it worth it? Would I rather make a healthy banana bread and save the richness for something that required it?


Am I overthinking it? Definitely. Try it and let me know. 


x Sarah