Banana Bread

I have a love/hate relationship with bananas. I buy them at the store, eat one or two, and then I'm done. Done with them for a while. Until a couple months down the road when I see them again. They just sit in the grocery store calling my name. They taunt me saying, "Quick breakfast! Before work!" So I give in. And they do their job for the first couple I eat. And the the cycle begins again.

So last week I just happened to be nearing the part of the cycle where I decide bananas are indeed a good idea. And this week...I had 3 overripe bananas staring at me as I left for work this morning. But alas! This time they would not hit the trash. This time they would become the delicious treat they were meant to be: Banana Bread.




I again went to my trusty friend allrecipes to find a suitable recipe. Here's what I found with a few modifications I made:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3 ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9 x 5 loaf pan.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. In separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar.

Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended.

Stir flour mixture into banana mixture just until moistened.
Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes before removing from pan.


For all of you out there screaming, "Where are the nuts???" (I can hear my mom saying this in my head as I write this), let me explain. While this particular recipe does not call for nuts, you could certainly add them or anything else you wanted to throw in. I refrained from doing so for two reasons: 1) I don't really care for nuts in my bread or brownies or much else. I realize to some, this is a sin. And 2) I was plum out of nuts in my pantry. Mostly because I don't buy nuts. But nonetheless, I was out.

Let's talk. This recipe was extremely fast to mix up! Which I think is a plus for anyone whether they have all day to bake or not. From pulling the ingredients out of the pantry to sliding the loaf pan into the oven was 20 minutes, tops. Waiting for this dense loaf to bake, however, is a different story. So be patient and enjoy the aroma that seeps through your house.

In the end I only baked this loaf 50 minutes. Banana bread is one of those things you really have to keep an eye on. A few minutes too long and you'll end up with the darkest loaf you've ever seen. I would definitely make this again...it was moist and dense and everything banana bread is supposed to be...without the nuts of course.


Get baking!

~T