Banana Banana Bread with Crumb Topping

This week has been really stressful for me. Between working well over my allotted 8-5pm shift, my husband has been working even more, and my kids have been, well, crazy. I've worked through lunch, snacking on Ritz crackers and granola bars, because I don't have time to take my full hour lunch. My family has had cereal for dinner twice in a row, much to the celebration of the kiddos...although it's only Wednesday and we're already out of milk! And, here's the kicker, I have had about 6 hours of sleep each night. I'm more of a 8 or 9 hour kind of girl, so the 6 hour thing has me feeling more like a killer zombie on The Walking Dead (best show ever!).

So what's a girl like me to do when I'm stressed and tired and {possibly} grumpy?

Besides drink Diet Dr Pepper like it's a gift from heaven?

I bake. And chop vegetables. Those are two of my stress relievers. On rough days I can peel and chop a whole sack of potatoes, carrots, and celery and whip up a mean chicken noodle soup. But lately it's been all about the baking. Cookies, cupcakes, quick breads, dinner rolls...the girls at work think that I'm on a mission to make them all fat!

I made my fave banana bread recipe the other night. My grocery store sells the overripe bananas for 19 cents a pound, and by overripe I mean fruit flies are already cozying up to the bananas. So they're best used within a day or two. Sometimes I use the bananas in pancake mix or in smoothies, but in all honesty I prefer my banana bread over all that.

The best part about this bread, besides the obvious crumb topping which mimics a coffee cake, is the extra sliced bananas that go into the batter. I love finding a banana piece in my bread, it's soaked up the cinnamon and it's delicious. And, thanks to our dear friend Christina, I now know the secret to baking banana bread without a doughy center. Bake on a lower setting for a longer amount of time. Gives me an excuse to have the house smell like banana bread for 2 whole hours!

Banana Banana Bread with Crumb Topping
by Girls in Aprons

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
5 overripe bananas
1 ripe banana, sliced into half-moons
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

For crumb topping
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp cinnamon


Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan or place cupcake liners in a muffin tin.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in vanilla, eggs, and overripe bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Fold in sliced ripe banana. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 2 hours, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.