If you give a moose some peanut butter banana bread...

I was making Peanut Butter Banana Bread last week when this moose and her young calf camped out in front of my kitchen window.  

Making themselves at home a few feet from our front door.

This young moose is putting a big dent in our shrubs.

It is always a treat to see moose up close and personal, although I prefer not to bump into them while out mountain biking or hiking, or when I am taking out the garbage.   They can be very aggressive, and have been known to charge and gore if if they feel threatened. 

These moose were content to lounge in our front yard, standing every few hours to scrape the bark off the aspen trees, and denude the shrubs of their tender leaves.  

They'd walk over to my garden and start foraging on the carrot tops, but my Solar Molars must have scared them away (vibrating devices that spike into the garden soil to deter voles from feasting on what's growing).


Then they'd plop down in the backyard, next to the soccer goal, rendering it impossible to go outside and play. 

Meanwhile, I was doing something fairly radical to banana bread:  adding peanut butter to the batter, and frosting it with a peanut butter glaze.  

My kids were excited about the prospect of frosted banana bread.  They have heard tales of the brownies my mother made when I was little, which she always smeared with chocolate frosting to equal the depth of the brownies.  I do not frost my brownies, or much else for that matter, except for birthday cakes, and then not liberally.

It is getting a bit nippy in the mornings, as you can see by the moose's frosty backs.

Even though I don't like bananas, I love to snack on moist, sweet, and perfectly baked banana bread.  My collection of banana bread recipes includes a chocolate chip and crystallized ginger rendition, and another variation with a cinnamon sugar topping (http://www.orangette.blogspot.com/); Molly Wizenberg has a thing for banana bread too.  My everyday banana bread with oats comes from Jackson Hole Cooks! by Rebecca Woods.

This peanut butter take on basic banana bread comes from the talented people at Cooking Light.  It may be my favorite, and it doesn't even involve chocolate. 

Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Adapted from the October 2010 issue of Cooking Light, I have tweaked this recipe so that it works at altitude. High altitude bakers can usually turn out a successful banana bread with very little adjustments, but adding a bit more flour will keep the middle from coming out gummy.  


I have made this with and without flaxseed with equally good results.  Flaxseed, if you have some on hand, will give the bread a tasty crunch and lots of heart healthy omega 3 fatty acids.  But don't make a special trip to town to get some, your Peanut Butter Banana Bread will be just as nice without it. 


If you have some almond meal, you may add substitute 1/2 cup for the same amount of flour. Almonds are so good for you that I like to add them whenever I can.  It  will give the banana bread a marzipan-like sweetness. 


This recipe makes 2 large or 4 small loaves.  The way I figure, if you're going to make banana bread, make enough to freeze some for later. 

For the Bread:

• 3 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 5)
  
• 2/3 cup plain yogurt
  
• 2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
  
• 6 Tbsp. butter, melted and cooled
  
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
  
• scant 1 cup of sugar (meaning 1 cup and a little less)
  
• scant 1 cup packed brown sugar (ditto)
  
• 3 1/4 cups flour (use 3 cups if you are below 5000 ft.)
• 1/2 cup ground flaxseed, also called flaxseed meal (or not, see above)
  
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  
• 1 tsp. salt
  
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
  
• 1/4 tsp. allspice
  
• cooking spray or butter to grease the pans
• Optional:  substitute 1/2 cup almond meal for 1/2 cup of the flour. 

For the Glaze:

• 2/3 cup powdered sugar
  
• 2 Tbsp. milk
  
• 2 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter

Perfectly baked loaves will be golden brown on top, and no longer wet in the middle when tested with a skewer.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease the pans with butter, or spray them with cooking oil.
3. With a mixer or by hand, combine the mashed bananas, yogurt, peanut butter, melted and cooled butter, and the eggs. 
4. Add the sugars and mix well. 
5. Carefully measure the flour by first scooping it into dry measuring cups and then leveling off with a knife. 
6. Add flaxseed meal, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and allspice to the flour and mix well. 
7. Mix wet and dry ingredients, and stir until just blended. 
8. Pour batter into  2 greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans, or 4 greased 5 x 2 1/2 in loaf pans.
9. Bake at 350 for 1 hr 5 minutes for large pans, 45-55 minutes for small pans.  Keep checking for doneness 10 minutes before these times with a small wooden skewer.  Baking times can vary depending on how hot your oven runs. (An oven thermometer is especially handy for accurate baking).
10. Make the glaze:  use a whisk to combine the powdered sugar, milk and peanut butter.  Drizzle over the banana bread once it has cooled. 
11. To freeze, wrap each banana bread in plastic wrap, then foil.  For best result, glaze after defrosting. 

Who gouged the nice crusty brown top off my fresh loaf???

No, I did not give the moose some Peanut Butter Banana Bread.  This is the real West, not the childhood storybook If You Give a Moose a Muffin.  But I was tempted to throw a loaf at them to get them to move on, especially after they charged my son on his way home from school. 

It was great fun having the moose visit, until I needed to get out of the garage...

making me late to meet the school bus.

and when Jack was charged while walking home from school, we were happy to see their backsides.