It's the Weekend! Celebrate with Florentine Banana Pecan Olive Oil Bread

You ever get tired of the same old banana nut bread? Squished up banana pulp in some boring white flour with white sugar and blended with butter. Blah! Once in a while you deserve something special to pass your time in the magical kingdom of Reno and in the realm of international cuisine that can only mean one thing... an original treat from the land of romance (that would be Italy for the romantically challenged) and its most romantic city, Florence.

When I orginally had this incredible version of banana nut bread, it was laced with toasted pine nuts. For my palate the pine nuts didn't quite marry with the bananas so when I got back home to America, I played with the original recipe a bit and instead of pine nuts I used finely chopped toasted pecans.

Aside from the nuts the big difference between this version of banana nut bread and the boring version is this one is more light in texture, more delicate in taste and is a helluva lot more healthy. Here we don't have white flour, we use whole wheat flour. There is no butter here, instead we are getting our fine texture thanks to olive oil. Regarding the sweetness, we'll rely on the ripeness of the bananas and the freshness of brown sugar and to add the bow to this outstanding package, we'll have a hint of spice with cinnamon and nutmeg!

Ingredients needed to make Florentine Banana Pecan Bread with Olive Oil (makes 1 loaf):

• 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 3 bananas, peeled and mashed
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup finely chopped toasted pecans

Steps:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and line the bottom of a 9x5 loaf pan with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
3. Into the bowl of a mixer and using the wire whisk, blend the bananas, brown sugar, olive oil, egg and vanilla until well combined.
4. Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and beat until just combined.
5. Stir in the pecans.
6. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
7. Place in the oven and bake 50 minutes or until done.
8. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan 15 minutes.
9. Remove from the pan and cool on a rack until ready to slice and serve.

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