Banana Bread Dessert Panini {GIVEAWAY CLOSED}

Question – do your bananas go bad as quickly as mine do?

You’d think with a houseful with as many people as mine, I’d never have anything that spoils, but unfortunately that’s not the case. For some reason our bananas begin to brown very quickly. Maybe I just buy too many, because it’s inevitable that RoRo will try to grab three of them the very day I bring them home, and the Boobie and Big G will always cut one up with their cereal. So I typically buy about 5 pounds of bananas at every shopping trip. RoRo won’t eat them though if they so much as have one little freckle on them, but RiRi waits until they begin to freckle before she’ll even touch them. I like them at all stages, for various reasons, but usually once the freckles begin to run together and less yellow shows on the skin, that’s typically when I begin to use them as ingredients for various recipes, my favorites being banana bread or smoothies.

It may be obvious to you that my immediate reaction is to make bread or muffins, I mean I already have two recipes here – one for each. (Banana Nut Bread with Greek Yogurt and Banana Chocolate Chip  Muffins) I don’t always  make my banana bread with Greek Yogurt though, both recipes are an adaption of my usual banana bread recipe so I thought I’d share that here. Back in April I received some products in connection with my ambassadorship with Hamilton Beach, one was a 6-Speed Stand Mixer (that giveaway is still going on – go enter if you haven’t already!), but I also received a 6-Speed Soft Scrape Hand Mixer that I could use when I didn’t feel like taking out the big dogs. This is what you use on your light baking days, when it’s something quick and you just need an efficient mixer. Now, obviously my favorite part of this mixer is the soft scrape blade attachment, but it  also come with a whisk and more traditional blades too. (Stick around, I’ll be giving away one of these babies at the end of this post too!)

I decided to use my little hand mixer to make  my banana bread recipe, but why not take it a step further and do a little something extra once the bread was made? You all know I love a good hot sandwich, everything is better grilled. Why not make a little dessert panini with my banana bread? Once I made it and the loaf had cooled, I cut it into thick slices, layered my favorite hazelnut spread inside and topped that with some sliced strawberries. I closed up the sandwich and spread a sweat cream whipped butter on the outside and put it in my panini press, then sprinkled it with powdered sugar.

It was the perfect dessert, the subtle sweetness of the banana bread balanced out the hazelnut spread and fruit, and the just slight crispness of the bread was perfection, and it was really so easy!

Banana Bread Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 very ripe small bananas

Dessert Panini Ingredients

• 2 thick slices prepared banana bread
• hazelnut spread, to spread
• 1-2 sliced medium strawberries
• sweet cream whipped butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Begin by adding all of the dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar- to a medium mixing bowl. Mix well.

Next, add all of the wet ingredients – milk, egg, oil and vanilla extract – to a larger mixing bowl.

Mix together the wet ingredients with your hand mixer on low.

Now pour the dry ingredients into the larger bowl with the mixed wet ingredients.

Mix the combined ingredients on low until just combined.

Using the smaller bowl that the dry ingredients were in, mash up the banana with a fork or pastry cutter, whatever’s available.

Add the mashed bananas to the mix, then mix again on low until they are incorporated into the mix.

Pour mixture into a well greased bread baking dish and pop into the oven for about an hour, or until a toothpick comes  out clean.

Let cool for a bit, then remove from pan. Let sit for about 10-15 minutes before cutting into slices.

Slice the bread into two thick slices and prepare to build your dessert panini.

Layer the hazelnut spread on the inside of each slice of bread, then layer the top of one side with sliced strawberries. Put the  other  slice on top, then spread the sweet cream whipped butter on the outside of each side of the sandwich.

Lightly spray your panini press with non stick spray, then gently place your sandwich inside. Close the top of until it gently presses down on the banana bread. Let it sizzle for about 45 seconds until just grilled.

Lightly dust with powdered sugar and serve.

Enjoy!

The Hamilton Beach 6-Speed Soft Scrape Hand Mixer

Not only is this mixer pretty in stainless steel, it’s accompanied by my favorite soft scrape attachments. I love that it comes equipped with it’s own carrying case. No more losing your attachments in the endless kitchen utensil drawer because it’s all neatly packed together!

Here’s how to enter:

Prize: One (1) Hamilton Beach 6-Speed Soft Scrape Hand Mixer

Giveaway runs through the evening of June 18th.

Eligibility: U.S. Residents only, must be 18 years old or older to enter. See full contest rules in the rafflecopter form. You will be notified via the email you used in the rafflecopter form if you win, and you will have 48 hours to respond, or a new winner will be chosen.

Enter using the rafflecopter form below. You can sign into the form with Facebook, or you can use your name and email address. Good luck!

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