TWD: Black and White Banana Bread

This is my first TWD post since taking two weeks off while on vacation in Hawaii. (To read about that, see posts below.) While I LOVED my time in Hawaii, there is one and possibly only one thing I missed about home, and that is being able to cook my own food! I was glad to get back into baking with Tuesdays with Dorie this week. The selection of the week is Black and White Banana Bread and was chosen by Ashlee at A Year in the Kitchen. (See her blog for the recipe.)

I was excited to try it because I love bread and also because I had never attempted marbling before, so I was interested to see how it would turn out. Then I went over to the TWD blog and saw that many people were having trouble with the recipe. Many said the bread didn't cook through, the batter was too runny, it was too dry on the edges and too moist in the middle or that their marbling didn't turn out at all! I was really worried at this point. I figured though, if I botched it, at least I wouldn't be the only one!

Well, I baked it last night and followed the directions to a T. It actually seemed pretty easy. I baked it in the oven as directed, and what can I say? The baking fairies worked their magic because my bread turned out pretty decent! Now if you click on over to Ashlee's blog, her bread looks awesome! Mine...ugh, not that great. I wish it were more puffed up and airy like hers. Mine settled a bit more and is more dense, but it's still better than I was hoping for considering all the trauma so many people were having.

I gave it a taste and it was actually pretty good! It wasn't dry at all. It was quite moist, but not too much. Now, I'm not a fan of chocolate in bread, so I likely will not make this again, but it was still a good baking experience!

Next week we are supposed to make blueberry ice cream. I don't have an ice cream maker so I immediately thought I would just do the backup choice which is simply to do a recipe from a previous TWD week. But then I started reading about a few people who already made the ice cream and how awesome it was! I know how to make ice cream without a maker (using bags and ice) but it's such a pain in the butt! We'll see how ambitious I'm feeling this weekend!