Warm banana bread is a treat unlike any other. From the moment you begin making it and for the next few hours, the kitchen (if not the entire house) smells wonderful, and everybody's in a good mood. Walnuts give this bread an important textural element, and the cricket powder works wonders with the cinnamon and overripe bananas.
This is another recipe that elicits shocked reviews like "I can't believe there's cricket powder in this!" The powder flavor compliments the other ingredients so well; we're not trying to hide it. In fact, we use a little more powder in this bread than in some other recipes. And it has the added benefit of adding fiber and protein, and cutting out some of the refined carbs.
Give this one a try, and feel free to sub out/in your own ideas. Try different nuts, add dried fruits like dates or raisins, add vanilla icing, or top it with ice cream and caramel for a decadent dessert. Just don't sleep on this one -- it's a classic.
This recipe has one thing even the best banana breads are missing: cricket powder. It's a perfect compliment to the nuts, cinnamon, and overripe bananas, and a great treat for anyone interested in trying cricket powder for the first time.
Grease a loaf pan with shortening or butter. Sometimes we then coat it with sugar—any type will do.
Mash bananas in a large bowl.
To the bananas, add sugar, oil, eggs, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir until combined.
Add flour, cricket powder, and buttermilk and stir until batter is combined. It should be slightly lumpy. Pour into the greased loaf pan.
Bake until a thermometer shows the internal temp at the center is 200 - 205 degrees. For most ovens this is between 45 and 60 minutes. You can use the toothpick method as well, but we find it’s less consistent and often leads to overbaking. If you don’t have a thermometer and want to use a toothpick, make sure it comes out with a little bit of mixture on it. (If there’s no mixture, there’s no moisture and you’ve over-baked your bread.) Quickly touch the top of the bread and it should spring back to shape. The sides should be starting to pull away and form a crust.
Let the bread cool completely before removing from the loaf pan.
Recipe Note
Fun ideas:
Frost the bread with vanilla frosting and then crumble more crushed walnuts on top.
With ten minutes to go, toss a mixture of rolled oats, cinnamon, and brown sugar on top of the loaf.
Make the batter in cupcake tins instead. They're done at 205 degrees just like the loaf.
Add raisins or currants or dates.
Comments (1)
Brian G on Jul 09, 2024
I’ve been making the same banana bread recipe (Joy of Cooking) for decades, but we have a new champion here. The buttermilk adds depth to the bread’s flavor, and the extra protein from the cricket is a welcome and utterly undetectable addition.
This recipe has one thing even the best banana breads are missing: cricket powder. It's a perfect compliment to the nuts, cinnamon, and overripe bananas, and a great treat for anyone interested in trying cricket powder for the first time.
Ingredients
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
¼ teaspoon salt (fine sea salt if you have it)
2 overripe bananas
2 large eggs
7 tablespoons buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
1 2/3 cup all purpose flour
⅓ cup Pure Cricket Powder
1 cup chopped walnuts
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a loaf pan with shortening or butter. Sometimes we then coat it with sugar—any type will do.
Mash bananas in a large bowl.
To the bananas, add sugar, oil, eggs, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir until combined.
Add flour, cricket powder, and buttermilk and stir until batter is combined. It should be slightly lumpy. Pour into the greased loaf pan.
Bake until a thermometer shows the internal temp at the center is 200 - 205 degrees. For most ovens this is between 45 and 60 minutes. You can use the toothpick method as well, but we find it’s less consistent and often leads to overbaking. If you don’t have a thermometer and want to use a toothpick, make sure it comes out with a little bit of mixture on it. (If there’s no mixture, there’s no moisture and you’ve over-baked your bread.) Quickly touch the top of the bread and it should spring back to shape. The sides should be starting to pull away and form a crust.
Let the bread cool completely before removing from the loaf pan.
Brian G on Jul 09, 2024
I’ve been making the same banana bread recipe (Joy of Cooking) for decades, but we have a new champion here. The buttermilk adds depth to the bread’s flavor, and the extra protein from the cricket is a welcome and utterly undetectable addition.