Preheat the oven to a 350°F. Butter or spray a 9x5” loaf pan. Line a parchment paper with the loaf pan for easier take-out once the bread is baked.
In a medium bowl, combine and whisk: 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg and 1/8 tsp ground cloves. Stir in 1 cup dried cranberries.
In a large bowl, mash 1 banana with a fork. Add 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 2 large eggs, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup grapeseed or vegetable oil and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Whisk to combine.
Using spatula, stir in the dry ingredients into the batter, until ‘just combined’ – do not overmix!
Transfer batter into the prepared loaf pan and gently go over with spatula to spread evenly throughout the pan. Bake the bread for about 1 hour (I did 45 minutes) or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center of the bread comes out clean.
Let the bread cool for 10-15 minutes and transfer onto a cooling rack until fully cooled. Let the bread cool completely before slicing.
Notes
Freeze Bananas: place unpeeled bananas in a freezer Ziploc bag and remove any excess air. Freeze up to 3 months. You can use thawed bananas for banana bread. You can also peel, cut and freeze them for later use in smoothies.
Use 2-3 very ripe bananas in this recipe and reduce the amount of sugar. Ripe bananas add plenty of sweetness.
Substitute dried cranberries for the same amount of fresh cranberries.
Replace sugar for same amount of honey for healthier alternative and additional flavor.
Use organic whole wheat pastry flour instead of all-purpose flour.
Omit ground nutmeg and cloves and increase cinnamon amount for more fall-flavored bread.
Substitute grapeseed oil for vegetable oil.
Replace sour cream for same amount of plain or greek yogurt.
To Ripen Bananas:
Oven Method: if bananas are more on the green side, making them ripe in the oven is so easy. Place bananas on a baking sheet and bake at 250˚F for 15 to 20 minutes, depending how green your bananas are or how ripe you want them to be.
24-Hour Counter Method: place bananas (without separating them) in a paper bag and loosely fold down the top. Adding an apple to the bag will increase the ethylene gas circulating around the green fruit and it will speed up the ripening process
To Freeze Banana Cranberry Bread:
Cool baked banana bread completely.
Tightly wrap the loaf or slices in 2-3 layers of plastic wrap to avoid freezer-burn. I like to freeze slices individually to speed up the process of thawing.
Place wrapped banana bread into a large Ziploc freezer bag or plastic container.
Date the bag and use within 3 months.
Thaw wrapped or unwrapped banana bread in refrigerator or at room temperature.