Banananananana

Our household banana consumption ebbs and flows. The boys won't touch fresh bananas - having had some nightmarish past bad-banana experience. As bananas often pass optimum-eating-conditions, we are frequently left with bananas that are in various stages of blackening and disintegrating into a slovenly mess.

Bananas in this state are perfect for banana cakes and breads as the flavor is much more intense and there is little effort to convert bananas to a mashed form. I had three such bananas today - perfect for a Banana Bread. I like the recipe for Heavenly Healthy Banana Bread. This recipe uses a White Wheat flour - a whole wheat with a lighter texture than a more traditional whole wheat flour. This recipe always produces good results. The site's interface is great as it allows ingredient measurements to be listed in grams or volume - great for switching between as I always like to weigh dry ingredients. 

Another way we like to use overripe (but not yet mushy) bananas, is to rub peeled bananas with a little butter, place them in an ovenproof dish, sprinkle over some soft brown sugar and a generous splash of dark rum (Bundaberg is perfect). We then bake these in the oven for around 20 to 30 minutes at approx 180℃ / 360℉. The rum, butter and sugar combine to make a rich rummy caramel sauce - perfect with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. Yum.