Whole Wheat Cranberry Banana Nut Bread

 I know banana bread isn't groundbreaking or anything, but this is the first recipe where I used whole wheat flour in place of regular all-purpose flour, so I wanted to share the results. And besides, I had a few bananas that I had use that day because someone (*cough* the husband *cough*) accidentally broke the peel on all the bananas we had and they were going to go bad. But, I did add cranberries, because apparently I can't help adding cranberries to things.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed with a fork (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces

1/2 cup dried cranberries

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. Whisk the eggs and vanilla together in a liquid measuring cup and set aside. Spray a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan with non-stick spray. Preheat the oven to 350°.

Cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand-held mixer) until light and fluffy. Gradually pour the egg mixture into the butter, while mixing, until incorporated. Add the bananas and remove the bowl from the mixer.

With a rubber spatula, mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the nuts and cranberries and pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool the bread in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes. Turn the bread out of the pan and let cool completely on the rack. Devour at will.

I honestly could not tell that there was whole wheat flour in this instead of all-purpose, but maybe that's because I used it in a recipe where that wouldn't really make a difference. I'm trying it in my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe next, that should be a pretty good judge as to how much it changes the flavor of things.

Either way, this bread was everything you want in a banana nut bread, and more! (You know, because of the cranberries.) I love how the nuts provide the crunch texture, juxtaposed with the cranberries which provide the chewy texture. This bread didn't last the rest of the day.