Caramel Banana Bread

There is a street vendor near my office who gives me his old, brown bananas.  Sometimes I eat them that day.  Other times I put them in my freezer because they are too far gone.  I always have a few frozen bananas hanging around for banana bread.

It seems like there is no end to the variations of banana bread I can make.  I had a jar of partially used caramel sauce leftover from my friend's birthday cake, and bananas and caramel seemed like a good combination.

Caramel is formed when sugar is warmed to 340 degrees.  At this temperature the structure breaks down and re-forms into a dark, brown substance.  It is likely that the origin of the word is the Latin word calamellus, which means sugar cane.  

Caramel candies were introduced in the early 18th century.  The word candy came from the Arabic word qandi, which means something made with sugar.  Candy was initially made with honey.  Marshmallows and licorice were first created as medicine before being considered candy.

I made this banana bread with caramel instead of sugar.  I also added chocolate chips and caramel bits.  I found the caramel bits at Walmart.  I don't go to Walmart often, but I always end up buying random stuff like caramel bits.  The original banana bread recipe came from allrecipes.com.

The ingredients are 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup caramel sauce, 2 eggs, 3 mashed bananas, 1/2 cup chocolate chunks, and 1/2 cup caramel bits.

I combined the flour, baking soda, and salt together.

In another bowl I mixed the butter, caramel sauce, eggs, and mashed bananas together.

I poured the liquid ingredients into the flour mixture.

I partially stirred the batter together before adding chocolate chunks and caramel bits.

I poured the batter into a nine by five inch loaf pan lined with parchment paper and greased.  

I baked the bread for 60 to 65 minutes at 350 degrees.

I let it cool a little before removing it from the pan and letting it cool completely on a wire rack.

The caramel flavor in the bread was very subtle.  The bread wasn't overly sweet, but it was sweet enough with the chocolate, caramel bits, and bananas.

The bread was tender and moist.  In the oven, the caramel bits near the edges caramelize and brown even more.  They became even more golden, delicious, and chewy.

I enjoyed the substantial chunks of chocolate.  The bread was studded with so many caramel bits and chocolate chunks that each bite of bread had a sweet morsel.  It was delicious and toothsome bread.  It was a perfect use for the extra caramel sauce I had hanging around.