BANACON BREAD

Say WHAT?!? Let me break it down for you...Banana Bread. Pecans. BACON.

This is definitely an original, as far as I know. I was scratching my head one day at work trying to figure out what the hell to do with this growing mountain of blackened and bruised bananas. Of course, there was the obvious choice...Banana bread. Throw some walnuts in. Whatevs. But something was tugging at the back of my mind. What would make it alchemy? What would make it magic? Duh. Bacon.

Growing up in South Africa, I didn't eat totally weird things. It was pretty normal. (Above: Me as a young bacon enthusiast)My dad, however, being the crazy artist/rocket scientist that he is came up with yet another crazy invention. Bacon Banana sandwich.
It's like a grilled cheese (sans cheese, of course) with smashed warm banana and perfect crispy bacon on it. It started my obsession of the sweet/salty combination that I find so fascinating. I am thoroughly amused, disgusted and excited about where bacon has been going as of late. Such a growing trend. Just call me hip, I guess. I digress...

So I got out my trusty recipe for Banana Bread. Made the batter. Cooked off a great pile of bacon, and crumbled it up. Put together the recipe, and made sure to have a nice bacon sprinkling with some brown sugar on top. WOAH. Toast it with some butter for breakfast, it's a complete balanced meal. Momma would be proud.

You can also make muffins this way too. It's cute. I made them for the kids at school today, and they were gone in 5.5 seconds.(All 60 of them).
OK, Here goes:

BANACON BREAD

Makes 2 loaves or 30 little muffins.(awww)

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of salt
4 lrg eggs
2 1/3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (olive oil works fine as well)
3 cups coarsely mashed ripe bananas (talking BLACK. Like my soul.)
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cups walnuts (toasted and roughly chopped)
1 package (or more, whatever you want bro) good quality applewood smoked bacon.

*The first thing you want to do is cook off your bacon and crumble it. Set it aside for the epic end.

1. In an electric mixer, beat together the eggs and the sugar at a medium-high speed, until thick and pale and forms a ribbon when the beater is lifted. Aprx. 10 minutes.
2. While that is happening, measure out your dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt) into a bowl. Mix thoroughly with a whisk.
3. Once the eggs and sugar are at desired stage, reduce speed to low and add oil in a slow, steady stream. Then mix in bananas, sour cream, and vanilla.
   
4. Fold the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients bowl, incorporating the walnuts and most of the bacon, a little bit at a time. Don't over mix it. Don't under mix it. DON'T FUCK IT UP.
   
5. Spray your pans with non-stick coating (either the muffin tins or the bread loaf tins)
6. Divide the batter evenly. Try not to fill it passed the half way line, or it'll be overflowing. Save some of the bacon crumbles and put on top of the bread. Sprinkle a little brown sugar on top. Trust me, I know what I'm doing.
   
7. Bake in oven at 350 degrees. For muffins, usually takes 15-20 minutes. For full on bread, it will take up to an hour and sometimes more than that. Stick a toothpick or stick in the middle part of the bread. If some jizz it stuck to it, it ain't done. Put it back for another five, son.
   
   
   (NOM NOM NOM)