Peanut Butter Bacon Banana Bread

One of my hopes for 2014 is to work my way through more of my bookmarked recipes, which is why I decided to turn some mushy overripe bananas into this creation from How Sweet It Is. I think I've had this bad boy flagged since she posted this recipe, so it's about time I recreate it.

I think this is my first recipe combining bacon and peanut butter. Sweet. Salty. Savory, especially since I used pepper-crusted bacon. This won't replace my favorite banana bread recipe, but I sure am glad I made it. The moist, soft interior is surrounded by a perfectly crunchy crust.

Peanut Butter Bacon Banana Bread
6 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 large egg
2/3 cup loosely packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup bacon drippings resulting from cooking bacon
4 bananas, mashed (about 2 1/4 cups mashed)
1/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, and add bacon, cooking until crisp and fat is rendered. Remove bacon, and let drain on a paper towel until ready to use. Reserve 1/4 cup of bacon drippings, which was all my drippings.

Grease a large loaf pan. In a bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, whisk egg and sugar together until smooth. Whisk in vanilla extract, peanut butter, bacon drippings and butter, then add bananas and milk and mix until combined. Add in dry ingredients slowly, mixing with a spoon until batter comes together. Fold in bacon until it’s equally distributed.

Pour batter into loaf pan. Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until center is set and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove bread from oven and let cool completely before cutting. Makes one large loaf.