I don’t know what got into me, but I absolutely had to make banana bread this morning. Maybe I can blame it on the surprise hot yoga. By “surprise” I mean that there was no one to open the studio this morning, so one generous student offered up her roof. The instructor was cool with it, so we had our yoga class on the roof. The host was even kind enough to supply some spray-on sunscreen. It was a bizarre but fun little adventure. I love New York.

Still, it was pretty hot (I heard this heat wave is on its way out? ), so I must not have been in my right mind when, after a quick shower, I decided banana bread would be a brilliant use of the ripe specimens languishing in the fruit bowl. And not just any banana bread—I was going for mad-scientist/healthy banana bread. Using this recipe for some inspiration (Averie always has the best recipes), I realized I had almost everything I needed, minus the flour. I had to go pick up a few things at the drug store, so I figured I’d grab flour there too. Naturally, there was none, and I was in no mood to brave the grocery store crowds, so in all my sun-soaked brilliance, I thought, “Oh, duh, just make oat flour..”

ground-up oats = oat flour

So I did.

I followed my made-up recipe to a T. I was even patient and let it cool 2o minutes before attempting to turn the mini-loaf over onto a wire wrack. If you’ve been with me a while, then I probably don’t even have to tell you this, but suffice it to say that, given my (lack of) successful past baking attempts, this happened. Inevitability—it’s the joke that writes itself. 

However, there’s a happy ending to this story. Turns out the texture and taste of this particular baking fail were fan-f***ing-tastic. Turns out I just can’t flip a loaf to save my life. Good to know. So I did what I’d intended to do all along: I enjoyed a little bit of banana bread warm from the oven with some non-fat ricotta on top. Bam! Vaguely-healthy, mad scientist dessert.

Always an adventure over here.

Any favorite cooking/baking fails? What’s your favorite banana bread recipe? 

PS—don’t forget to enter my Firmoo giveaway!