March's Special Feature: Alisa's Banana Bread

id="recipetitle"class="fn">March's Special Feature: Alisa's Banana Bread

I'm really excited about this month's special feature recipe. It comes from my friend and team mate Alisa who made this for a team snack at this year's Canadian Championships. I always enjoy sampling other people's baking, and was so pleasantly surprised by the unexpected flavor in this banana bread. I knew it was something citrus and immediately turned to Alisa to ask what the secret ingredient was. She said "orange rind"! I'm telling you, this is delightful for a nice change up to plain old banana bread.

From Anne Lindsay's Light-Hearted Cooking


INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup soft margerine
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3)
1 teaspoon orange zest
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup buttermilk


DIRECTIONS

1) Preheat oven to 350F and spray a 9-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. In a bowl, cream the margarine. Add the sugar and beat well. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla, banana and orange zest.

2) In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add to the egg mixture alternately with the buttermilk.

3) Bake for 40 minutes or until loaf springs back when touched or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on rack. Enjoy :)