I have this bad habit of every few weeks deciding that I am going to commit to eating cereal and a banana every day for breakfast. I stock up on Total, bananas and good intentions. Sadly the good intentions only last about two days and then I go back to eating my usual combination of granola bars and fruit smoothies.This "habit" doesn't seem so bad on the surface, but what ends up happening is I'm left with a slowly blackening bunch of bananas which more often than not ends up in the trash. My kids are not the biggest fans of bananas so they don't usually eat them...but I really, really hate to throw away food so the solution became obvious: banana bread. Now every few weeks I have a bowl or two of cereal with a sliced banana followed up later in the week with a tasty banana bread-maybe it's a pretty good habit after all.It's teacher appreciation week and I volunteered to bake something for our high school teacher breakfast--so this week they are the recipients of my blackened bananas (that doesn't sound like a very nice gift). I feel very fortunate to live in a town with some incredible teachers and my little banana bread is just a small thank you for their big job that they do so well...thank you teachers (everywhere).So I finished typing this post and grab my camera to upload my photos and guess what?? I never put the memory card in!! There should be a bell that goes off or a warning screen that comes up for careless photographers such as myself. Well trust me when I tell you it looked really pretty!Butterscotch Glazed Chocolate Chip Banana Bread1 1/2 cups all purpose flour3/4 teaspoon salt1/2 teaspoon baking soda1/2 teaspoon baking powder5 tablespoons butter, room temperature1/2 cup sugar1/4 cup brown sugar2 large eggs2 medium very ripe bananas1/4 cup mini chocolate chipsPreheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides an 8x4x2 1/2 inch loaf pan.In a medium sized bowl sift together the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder.In a large mixing bowl beat the butter and sugars, using an electric mixer, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time beating just until incorporated. Add the bananas and beat until combined; stir in the chocolate chips. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.Bake bread in the 350 degree oven for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Gently remove from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack. When completely cooled top with the butterscotch glaze (recipe follows).Butterscotch Glaze:2 tablespoons butter1/4 cup brown sugar2 tablespoons water1 cup sifted confectioner's sugar1 tablespoon heavy creamBring the butter, sugar and water to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat; boil for 1 minute. Whisk in the confectioner's sugar and the heavy cream. Spoon the glaze over the cooled bread.
