I have been on a scone kick since the end of January…sampling them from various bakeries as well as whipping up my own at home. This latest batch was initiated by one lone overly rip banana. Sure, it’s common to make banana bread with overripe bananas, but most recipes call for 2-3 bananas. My goal was to fine a recipe that only utilized 1 banana and perhaps some buttermilk which I am trying to use up before it goes bad. Using a few different recipes for inspiration (but mostly one on Food.com), I came with the below concoction. These were a little dense but had a nice nutty flavor. To be honest, the banana flavor was a little weak but I think the banana was being overpowered by all the walnuts. I put in 1/2 cup but would scale back to 1/4 cup in the future. I hesitate to suggest adding more bananas because that may make the dough too wet.

In a nutshell, these were just ok. Definitely a nutty, healthy taste to them but I don’t think they would appeal to everyone.

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

3 tablespoons cold butter

4 tablespoon buttermilk (well shaken)

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla

1 small-medium overripe banana

1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

In bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and ginger. Cut in the butter, rubbing it in with your fingerstips.

In a separate bowl, mix buttermilk and vanilla. Stir into flour mixture. Add mashed banana and chopped walnuts.

Form into a round 1/2 inch thick disc and then cut into 4 sections.

Bake on parchment paper lined cookie sheet for approximately 20 minutes. Cool on rack.