Bananas, Carrots and Marmalade...

I had some extremely over-ripe bananas sitting in the kitchen that needed to be used ASAP, and which had indeed been left uneaten with the intent of making banana bread of some sort... at some point. Of course, upon finally determining the fact that I was ready to do so, I realized that I had used the last of the eggs. I hadn't yet planned on trekking up to the grocery store, and the severely darkened bananas couldn't wait much longer. I still sometimes forget the beauty of the internet being at one's fingertips, readily available for ease of access such that I would not have to go rooting through a mass of cookbooks to find the right recipe. So, I went agoogling, picked a recipe without eggs in it, and then decided to find one more just to compare ingredients. Well... as usual, I ended up modifying the heck out of the very simple recipe(s). After I had folded the ingredients together, it struck me that the batter was much too thick, so I decided to check the fridge for ingredients that might add some moisture. I went with some baby carrots, which I chopped up super fine, a wee bit more canola oil, and... something just on a whim... orange marmalade, which I figured would be an interesting flavour twist.

Well... it ended up being pretty good. Not too heavy or dense, with a cohesive, moist texture, an almost crisp cracked open top, a mild banana flavour with an oddly bittersweet chocolate finish. The only thing I can attribute the cocoa-ish flavour to is from the marmalade. Go figure.

Oh, and the funny thing...  I think the marmalade may have been sitting in the fridge for some three years now, as it isn't something that I use very often. The banana bread, having been made a mere day and a half ago, now only has three slices left.