cinnamon vanilla banana bread

Let me start out by saying I'm sorry...

...for all you haters that will forever miss out on the awesome night that comes along with a Bieber concert.

I'm not going to lie...
That concert is definitely on my top 5 list of most fun shows I've seen.

Partly because I'm not ashamed of my Bieber fever...
But also it was a lot of fun getting dressed up silly and going out for drinks with Kayla, who I don't see nearly enough.
Overall, two thumbs up.
Biebs, you stole my heart, just like I knew you would.

Moving on.

Last week I noticed some of our bananas were starting to get a little too ripe.

Honestly, as much as Joe and I love fruit, it's hard for two people to eat 5 pounds of bananas.
Oh, Costco.

So, I decided I wanted to make some kind of banana bread.
I've been dying to do it for awhile now, but:
1. We usually buy a normal amount of bananas and finish them all fairly quickly, and;
2. I don't have a loaf pan.

I've also been dying to try baking something with applesauce, since it seems to be the new craze now.
You know, gotta see what all the fuss is about.

I found a really simple recipe via Pinterest {of course} and decided to make some tweaks and try to create a good {and healthy!} go-to breakfast muffin.

And here's what I came up with.

recipe adapted via here

Things you'll need:

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar-free applesauce

3/4 cup honey

2 eggs, beaten

1 tbsp vanilla extract

cinnamon, to taste {I put in 2-3 dashes to make it a pretty cinnamon color}

3 overripe mashed bananas

*There are no pictures of the process for this one because honestly, it's just too simple. Showing you pictures of flour in a bowl just seemed a little ridic.

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees, and lightly grease a muffin pan or use cupcake liners.

2. Mix together flour, baking soda, and salt {all dry ingredients} in a large mixing bowl.

3. In another bowl, mix together applesauce and honey.  Add eggs and mashed bananas until well blended.  Add vanilla extract and cinnamon.

4. Slowly incorporate dry mix into wet mix until well blended. I like to leave a few chunks of banana, just so there are a few surprise banana bites hidden in the muffins.

5. Fill muffin cups about 2/3 of the way full.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.

I baked mine for a little over 20 minutes because the original recipe {which is for an entire loaf} has a cooking time way longer, so my muffins turned out a little dry.

Still delish, just a tad bit drier than I'd prefer.

So, word to the wise, keep an eye on these and don't let them overcook!

15 minutes or so should do the trick.

Unless you're trying to do an entire loaf of bread, in which case you'll definitely have to bake it for longer.

I took these for breakfast everyday last week, and they were awesome!

Very filling and not too many calories.

And a perfect compliment to my daily hazelnut cappuccino.

Needless to say, I'll definitely be doing these again soon.

Happy Monday, friends!