I woke up this morning with a hankering to bake, and since we had a ton of bananas at home (they were on sale for $0.49/lb last week) it didn't take me long to figure out what to put in the oven :).
After a bit of searching on Food.com I found two recipes to put to the test: Sour Cream Banana Bread (SC) and Low Fat Banana Bread (LF). It was the perfect way to see if the low-fat version would deliver! Overall, the recipes were fairly similar. The major differences were:
- SC uses 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup sour cream, whereas LF only has 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp applesauce
- SC uses 2 bananas; LF uses 4 bananas
After 65 minutes the loaves were baked to perfection and the kitchen was filled with a heavenly aroma!
Can you tell which one is the low fat version?
How about now? My sister (aka master chef) was able to guess right away!
Fine, fine...I'll tell you. It's the darker one to the left.
So they both looked good and smelled good. But it was time to put them to the ultimate taste test!
Low Fat Banana Bread: I tried this one first and it had a wonderful, distinct banana flavour (I guess that's what happens when you use 4 bananas!). It was a little too sweet for my liking so next time I make it I will probably decrease the sugar to 1/2 or 3/4 cup.
Sour Cream Banana Bread: When I took my first bite I could tell that there was a lot more butter. Actually, my reaction went something like this:
Sister: "So, how is it?"
Me: "Wow, I can really taste the butter...
...it's so rich...
...it's SO good!"
*drool*
Nothing can beat the richness of butter, and the sour cream really smoothed out the flavour. That being said, this loaf was pretty hefty and I don't think I could eat more than one piece...which is probably a good thing ;). However, the low fat version didn't taste low fat at all and I will definitely make it again and experiment with the sugar quantity (maybe even use 1/2 whole wheat flour).
And in case you're thinking 6 bananas aren't too many, you're right! I used 3 more for some cupcakes I'm bringing to tutorial tomorrow. But that is a tale for my next post! Right now I'm off to bed (and by "bed" I really mean doing homework to make up for my unproductive scholastic weekend!).
Mmmm I love banana bread! Last time I made it, I had a epic fail. I forgot to put any sugar in it at all. Whoops! It wasn't half bad, just not sweet and very dry. Haha, yours look way better :)
ReplyDeleteInteresting!!! I don't believe I've ever baked with sour cream before. Greek yogurt, yes, but not sour cream.
ReplyDeleteNothing beats butter!!
@ Britt: Oh noooo! I'm glad your bread turned out ok. I guess there would have been some sweetness coming from the bananas. Lesson learned :D.
ReplyDelete@ Allie: The sour cream gives the bread a very smooth, creamy texture. It kind of just melts in your mouth :). I've used it in muffins before too and they've been a hit.