Banana Orange Poppyseed bread

I'm a huge fan of quick breads. I was just about to type out my definition of what a quick bread is when I realized that you could just read this and call it a day. If you were playing match game and Gene Rayburn said, "Mary Cornwal Gettner was in her kitchen when she tripped over her can and landed in a 'blank' muffin" all of the contestants would certainly say Blueberry. The same is true for quick breads, if I were to say, "blank bread" you would probably say banana, wouldn't you? I think you would.

I searched for years for the perfect banana bread recipe, at least the banana bread perfect for me. I finally found a recipe that I could tweak to make it just perfect for my taste. That recipe is the foundation upon which I built this recipe. I'm not really sure how I came to create this other than just admitting that it was a whim and I had oranges. I have to say that it came out better than I expected and is quite good.

Mini-loaves of quick bread are the standard in our kitchen, we just don't use the big loaf pan for some reason. I think it has to do with the sheer portability of a mini loaf of bread and the fact it is beyond cute and precious. Having a mini loaf pan in your pantry is certainly not a splurge as you can use it for meatloaf and quick bread, or quick sorting knick knacky things. I can justify any purchase if I think of three different things/uses!

Banana Orange Poppy seed Bread

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter, room temp

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups banana (about 4 medium)

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Zest of one orange (a little more than a tablespoon)

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda (I don't level off)

1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray loaf compartments with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In the Bowl of a stand mixer, add sugar and butter. Turn on medium and mix until combined, two-three minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing until completely combined. Add bananas, buttermilk, vanilla and beat until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and mix until smooth, one-two minutes.

Fill each loaf compartment 3/4 full. Bake 30-35 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool five minutes, then remove to a cooling rack. When completely cool, dip in glaze and return to rack. Once glaze is dry, wrap individually.

Orange Glaze:

Juice of one orange

1-2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon of orange zest

Add orange juice to a small bowl. Slowly add powdered sugar until thick and smooth.

Notes:

• I don't mash the bananas, I let my mixer to the work. I just add them whole, and I have never had any trouble with the breads not turning out.
• When I dip the breads, I just hold them upside down and dip straight down into the glaze. I will hold the bread over the bowl until it stops dripping then turn upright.
• I put parchment paper under the cooling rack so it will catch the remaining glaze the drips down.
• I have a large Pampered Chef spring-loaded scoop that I use to fill the compartments of the loaf pan. It takes two scoops to fill one compartment, I can get exactly 8 mini loaves out of this batch.