Banana Bread with Cinnamon Crumble Topping

Oh banana bread. Probably the most frequently made baked goodie in my house. It’s the one thing that I know will never go to waste around here.

I always like to try a new recipe when I make banana bread. I keep hoping that I’ll find one that will just blow our minds and it will become my go-to but no luck yet. This recipe comes from Bon Appetit. I pulled it out of the magazine because it calls for quite a bit of honey. I thought the honey banana combination sounded fun. Unfortunately, the honey is hardly noticable.

The topping… okay, I have real problems with putting white sugar on top of baked goods. It was always looks so… accidental. Yeah, like I dropped a cup of sugar on top after I pulled it out of the oven. This recipe calls for white sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon as the topping and I thought about leaving it off. Just look at that picture up there. The white sugar is hideous. But let me tell you, it made the most amazing crunchy topping. Best part of the entire bread. I also added some walnuts for extra crunch and holy cow, amazingness.

Overall, a great banana bread recipe. The topping totally makes it. The bread was awesome right out of the oven and it’s very moist today, the morning after. I’m going to keep this in my recipe file if only for the topping.

Banana Bread with Cinnamon Crumble Topping
adapted from Bon Appetit

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon, divided
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 to 3 medium)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup water
2 1/2 tablespoon packed brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour 9×5x3 inch baking pan.

Whisk 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Whisk next 5 ingredients in large bowl until smooth. Add dry ingredients; stir to blend. Transfer batter to pan. Mix 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and brown sugar; sprinkle over batter.

Bake bread until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool bread in pan 30 minutes. Turn pan on it’s side; slide out bread being careful not to dislodge topping. Turn bread right side up and cool completely.