Louisiana Bride: Whole Wheat Banana Bread Muffins // preserved in mason jars

Growing up there were two Saturday morning staples that I remember, one being that Mom made Orange Julius's while we watched Fudge every weekend at 9am, and the other being that the woman made amazing banana bread. I've played with my recipe for banana bread for years, making it as healthy as possible. This weekend my 3 year old nephew is down and banana bread in loaf form just isn't as cool as a muffin to a kiddo. While muffins are cool for kids, I really love things preserved in mason jars. Consider it my inner struggle between wanting modern conveniences while really wanting to be self sufficient and be, well....Amish. Canning seems to be as close to that farm life as I can afford right now.

With that said, I've now learned to can bread. Whoop whoop!

Being totally honest with y'all, I'd much rather eat my food from mason jars. Last year I made cupcakes in mason jars for a friend's baby shower, cute factor was definitely upped....and the travel factor, it is insanely easy to travel with mason jars that are sealed instead of out in the open free to roll around the car.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

1 2/3 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup Splenda (or honey if you don't mind the calories)

2 eggs

1/2 cup olive oil (or coconut oil)

3 1/2 bananas, very ripe, mashed

2 tablespoons light sour cream or greek yogurt (I've used cream cheese when I am out of the others)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup pecans, toasted and chopped (optional)

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Beat sugar and eggs with a whisk until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Drizzle in oil. Add mashed bananas, sour cream, and vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients and nuts. Pour into a lined loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Line the bottom of a greased loaf pan with parchment paper and pour in batter.

For muffins: spray a muffin pan with nonstick spray, fill with 1/4 cup of batter per muffin, and bake about 20 minutes.

To preserve in mason jars: follow the same steps as muffins and bake for about 20-25 minutes depending on how full your jars are. I used small jars, if you use larger you will need to adjust your cook time. To preserve bread - as soon as the muffins are done and removed from the oven immediately place on a new seal and lid and screw on tight. The heat from the jar will seal it and preserve the bread. Be sure that your seal is on correctly and doesn't have any "give" at the top (I'm not up on proper canning terms), if it does just eat the bread and don't save it. With the heat of the jar, and brand new seals, it should seal correctly.