These are some loaves of banana bread that I baked recently. ❤

Don’t you just love banana bread? The aroma is so soft and warm and comforting. Banana bread is semi-dense and sweet and delicious. To be honest, it seems more like a loaf cake than a bread. Tastes great with warm butter spread on a slice, but is also wonderful just as it is. Pairs well with a nice Earl Grey tea. …Are you getting hungry yet?

In my house, for some reason there’s usually one banana left from the whole bunch that doesn’t get eaten, and so I put it in my freezer when it starts getting brown (not just spotted, but truly brown). Once I have 3 or 4 of them frozen, then I take them out to thaw, drain off the excess liquid, and it’s time to bake some banana bread!

(Confession: I recently found a dozen (Yes, 12!) frozen bananas in my freezer. They had all sort of been pushed to the back and out of sight. Because of their peel, they don’t seem to ever get freezer-burn.)

It took quite a few years and attempts, but I think I’ve finally got my banana bread recipe down just right. It’s pretty simple to make in one large bowl, you don’t need a fancy mixer, and you probably have most of the ingredients already on hand. Here it is:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup softened butter (Cooking oil works, too, but butter makes everything better!)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 3 or 4 really ripe (all or nearly all brown) bananas, mashed well
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 and 3/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder (use 1/2 tsp if it’s an old container—It loses its potency over time.)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
• a slight pinch of cinnamon (also optional)

For banana bread, I would use any of the three on the left. Image from Epicurious

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Lightly grease bottom and sides of loaf pan with cooking oil or melted butter.
3. Using a whisk or a fork, cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla.
4. Stir in eggs until blended.
5. Add bananas and milk, and beat for about 30 seconds.
6. Stir in the remaining ingredients and mix until well blended.
7. Pour into loaf pan and bake for 1 hour. (Insert a toothpick into the middle. If it comes out clean when you remove it, it’s done!)
8. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Then remove bread from pan and place on a cooling rack to cool completely.

I use completely brown bananas, which are naturally very sweet. Therefore, my recipe uses a reduced amount of sugar than what you might find in other recipes. It comes out moist, a beautiful golden brown, and so delicious!

Enjoy! Thanks for stopping by! ❤