Breaking Bread & Finlandia Cheese Winners

Once upon a time, I disliked banana bread. I mean, I ate it if it was the only thing around and I was desperate, but it was certainly not my first, second or tenth choice. ha! There's just something about concentrated banana flavor that turned me off. And artificial banana flavor, like banana taffy- double gag! But one day, Dawn of Vanilla Sugar turned that around for me. She shared a recipe on her blog that made me question my strong dislike for banana bread. Ya'll her recipe was GOOD!

The original recipe is no longer on her blog for some reason, so I can't link back to that particular post, but I'm sure you'll find lots of other yummies over there. The first time I made this banana bread, I added mini chocolate chips and it was delicious. For something different, I added cinnamon chips and topped it with cinnamon sugar before baking. When it came out of the oven it was crackly and crunchy on top and soft and moist in the inside with the added pop of melty cinnamon chips.

I doubled this recipe, made one large loaf and 4 smaller loaves to share with the neighbors. My thought was to try to make friends with the neighbors that we didn't know so well and really I don't think any of them really gave a flip. But at least I made the effort, which is more than I can say for them! Anyway, despite the lack of enthusiasm from my neighbors, I think you should make this bread. Don't feel compelled to add anything to this bread, it's just as delicious plain, but chopped nuts or a caramel swirl wouldn't hurt anything either. Trust me, this banana bread is perfection.

Cinnamon Chip Banana Bread adapted from Mama Dip and HERE

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• 1/2 cup shortening (not butter*)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas
• 3 tbsp. sour cream
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 cup cinnamon chips
• 2 tbsp. cinnamon sugar for topping, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl with an electric mixer or a spoon, cream shortening and sugar together. Beat in eggs one at a time; then add mashed bananas, sour cream, and lemon juice.

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Slowly add dry ingredients to the wet mixture, then fold in cinnamon chips.

Pour into greased and floured 9x5x3 loaf pan. Sprinkle with about 2 Tablespoons (use as much or as little as you want). Bake for 60 minutes.

NOTE: If your bread is getting too dark, loosely cover bread with foil. I did this for the last 15 minutes of baking time.

*Don't be tempted to use butter instead of shortening in this banana bread. It's what makes this recipe different.

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Oh and for the winners of the Finlandia Cheese giveaway...

#23 Maria from Two Peas and Their Pod

and

#31 Leeann from Join The Gossip

Congrats ladies! Please email me with your addresses so I can send out your coupons for free Finlandia cheese!