Banana Honey Nut Loaf

From Noble Pig

Topping
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
1 Tablespoon honey
Pinch of salt

Banana Loaf
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 large eggs
2/3 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large over-ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

First make the topping in a medium-sized bowl.  Blend together flour and butter with your fingertips.  Stir in nuts, honey and salt, then work mixture together with your hands to make crumbs (mixture will be moist).  Set aside.

In a large bowl, prepare banana loaf:  Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and nutmeg.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.  In a medium-size bowl, whisk eggs, honey, oil, mashed banana and vanilla.  Pour into well in flour with walnuts on top.  Stir until mixture is just combined.

Coat a 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan (make sure you are using the right size) with nonstick cooking spray and line it with parchment paper (if you do not line the pan with parchment you will lose a fair amount of your crumb topping when you have to dump the loaf out as opposed to being able to just lift it out with the parchment).  Coat the parchment with nonstick spray as well.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and sprinkle with the topping.  Place in a 350^o F oven for 55 minutes (for the first 40 minutes of baking, cover the loaf with a sheet of foil as honey browns very quickly).  If you lined the pan with parchment you can remove the loaf from the pan and place on a cooling rack as soon as you have removed it from the oven.  Otherwise, cool in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes before removing.


*Crumbly and crumbly, not as moist and sweet as other banana breads.