Hummingbird Friendship Bread

Half of me thinks I should have been born in the south, the other half is really glad I wasn’t. The half of me that wishes I was southern is the half that likes dessert and coffee. Some of my absolute favorite desserts have southern roots, and we all know what I think of their coffee. The half of me that’s really glad I was born in the Midwest instead, is the half that has to eat real food to live. The south is full of seafood made about every way imaginable, and I don’t like seafood any way imaginable. Give me a good ol’ ranch burger and I’m thrilled.

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Since having to postpone our honeymoon to NOLA, I have been even more obsessive about baking southern recipes. I’ve always wanted to make hummingbird cake, namely the famous recipe that was sent into the Southern Living magazine in 1971, but I had starter that had to be used, so I went to the drawing board.

I wrote down the SL recipe alongside the traditional Amish Friendship Bread recipe, and I compared the ingredients and the quantities. I made a few tweaks here and there and I came up with something that I thought would work. It did work, but it didn’t blow my mind. Like usual, I found a few ways I thought it could be better, and I made the necessary tweaks. Round two was a win and I can’t wait to share it with you!

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A major change I had to make was the ratio of baking powder and baking soda. Amish Friendship Bread is alkaline, and the pineapple in hummingbird cake adds acid. I also decided to use vanilla instant pudding mix the first time, since I didn’t want the banana to be overpowering, but I found that using banana pudding mix actually kicked up the flavor perfectly. I am so glad I tried both ways.

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Another big change was the actual banana. I chopped the banana the first time, but the second time, I mashed it, and it improved the texture of the bread so much! I also added the streusel topping the second time around, which I left off the first trial run. It was a delicious addition!

I am so glad I tried this recipe, and one of these days, I’m going to make the original Southern Living recipe. All I have to wait for is an occasion for a three layer cake!

Hummingbird Friendship Bread Recipe

Bread ingredients:

• 2 c. flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 c. toasted pecans, chopped
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 c. oil
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 c. crushed pineapple, undrained
• 1 c. friendship bread starter
• 1 box (3.4oz) banana instant pudding mix

Mixture for flouring the loaf pans:

• 1/4 c. flour
• 2 T. sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Streusel Topping:

• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/4 c. flour
• 1/4 c. chopped pecans, optional
• 3 T. butter, cold

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

To start your bread batter, mix the first 6 ingredients together and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas and then add the oil and sugars. Continue down the ingredient list, mixing after each addition, ending with thoroughly working in the instant pudding mix. Once it’s fully incorporated, gently working the the dry ingredients, scraping down the sides of the bowl, until the batter is completely mixed.

For your streusel topping, combine the cinnamon, brown sugar, flour, and pecans in a medium mixing bowl. Cut in the butter until the mixture is nice and crumbly.

Grease your loaf pans and flour them with the flour/cinnamon/sugar mixture. While you need to grease and flour your pans, the cinnamon sugar part is totally optional, but I feel it’s worth it.

Divide your batter evenly between the two loaf pans and top each one with an even amount of streusel.

To make the baking process easier, you can place your loaf pans on a cookie sheet before placing in the oven.

Bake for 25 minutes, rotate the pans, and bake for another 25 minutes. If the loaves aren’t baked after this, place a piece of foil over them and bake for another 10 minutes. If it still isn’t baked, continue baking in 3-5 minute increments, using your best judgement, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.