Nilla Wafer Banana Bread

I wasn't looking for a new banana bread recipe.  I've been using this recipe for years and I love it (although I don't slice the bananas like it says to, I mash them up).  It is super moist which comes from the sour cream that gets folded in.  I never really had any intention of every making another banana bread.

Then I had this box of Nilla Wafers sitting in my pantry leftover from making bourbon balls and it needed to go away.  It was just taking up room and if you could see my pantry you would know that random stuff taking up space is unacceptable (it's miniature!)  So, I did what I always do when I have something to get rid of... I looked up recipes on Pinterest.  I found a plethera of banana puddings which was very tempting because I LOVE banana pudding... mostly just the Nilla wafers that have been touching the pudding and not the pudding or the bananas themselves.  However, banana pudding, or anything else that requires refrigeration, is not conducive to taking to work since putting it in the fridge means people forget about it and don't eat it and leaving it out means everyone to dies from food poisoning.  So banana pudding was out as was banana cream pie and all other cold layered banana desserts which apparently is THE thing to do with Nilla wafers.
 

By the way, I'm having an awfully hard time calling these things Nilla wafers because I'm pretty sure that my whole life I've called them Vanilla Wafers.  Just like my sister and her serenaded knife.

Anyway, I stumbled across this Banana Bread recipe with ground Nilla wafers in it and was highly intrigued.  Since the Nilla wafer and the banana are documented BFF's I figured it was worth a try even if I wasn't in the market for a new banana bread.

I made some adjustments to the original recipe based on necessity.  I didn't quite have enough cookies or nuts and I had zero milk so I cut back the cookies and nuts a bit and substituted buttermilk for the regular milk (which, of course means you have to adjust the levener). 

I have to say that I'm a big fan of this banana bread.  It was super moist and you really can taste the cookies in here.  I made this in both loaf and muffin form... the loaf was for me and CA to enjoy and the muffins I took to work where they quickly disappeared.  Unfortunately, I only had enough nuts for my loaf so my coworkers got their sans nuts.  Either way, they were delicious and, while I'm not throwing away my other banana bread recipe, if I ever have a box of Nilla wafers lying around I'll definitely be making this again.

Nilla Wafer Banana Bread
Adapted from Colie's Kitchen

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
3/4 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
2 medium or 1 1/2 large Bananas, mashed
1/2 cup Buttermilk

1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour 

30 Nilla Wafers, finely crushed

2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1/3 cup Pecan Pieces

  
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a loaf pan or 12 cup muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl ix flour, wafer crumbs, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add the eggs and mix on low speed until just incorporated (the mixture will look broken, but that's OK).  Add the bananas and mix on low speed until just incorporated.  Add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the milk.  Mix on low speed until combined.

Scoop or pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Sprinkle the top with the pecan pieces.

Bake until a toothpick stuck into the center comes out clean; about 20 minutes for muffins and 1 hour for a loaf.

Enjoy!
Julie