Time: 1 hour

This is one of my favorite ways to use up ripe bananas (for -evermore)… it is a healthy, easy, tasty brunch or breakfast (or high tea) treat!

Music Selection: Josh Groban – Evermore (from Beauty and the Beast)

Ingredients

2 cups mashed banana (about 2 ripe bananas)

1 ½ tsp vanilla

1/3 cup milk

¼ cup maple syrup

¼ cup molasses

1 ½ Tbsp vinegar

1 tsp baking soda

2 ½ tsp cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground cloves

Dash of nutmeg

¾ tsp baking powder

¾ tsp salt

2 cups flour

1 ½ cups toasted and chopped pecans

¼ cup brown sugar

½ tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 deg. On a pan, toast the pecans (watch them closely as this only takes a few minutes and they can burn quickly). Set aside and let cool.

Butter a 9 x 5 loaf pan.

In large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda,  2 ½ tsp cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, baking powder and salt.

In smaller bowl, mash the bananas with the vanilla. Add in the milk, maple syrup and molasses. Mix well.

Combine the dry and wet ingredients. Mix well.

Chop up the pecans roughly. Set aside about ½ cup of the pecans. Add the rest to the loaf. Mix in to the loaf.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan.

In a small bowl, mix the remaining pecans, sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle on to the top of the loaf and gently press it into the loaf.

Bake loaf for 40 – 45 minutes. Let cool. Slice and serve with butter – sometimes, I like to add a little orange juice or orange rind to the butter!