Banana Bread

How many times have you had bananas on your counter getting a little too brown to enjoy eating on their own? Did you know you could peel them, cut in half and then freeze (stored in a plastic bag) to use in your smoothies? Using them to make fresh banana bread will always be enjoyed by your guests!

This recipe comes, as most of mine do, from years of reading recipes and trying different combinations of ingredients. This beautiful brown loaf will have you pulling out a stick of butter for a warm slice!

INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3 medium overripe bananas, mashed with a fork (about 1 cup)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk (see note below for substitute)
• 1/2 cup canola oil (or your preferred cooking oil)
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Optional: add 1 cup chopped, toasted walnuts or pecans to the batter

Optional: sprinkle top of loaf with mini chocolate chips (and nuts, if nuts were desired) to make a crust on top

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare baking pan by spraying a 9 by 5 inch (no smaller) loaf pan with cooking spray, or else butter and add a sheet of buttered parchment paper, and set aside. If you have a smaller loaf pan, consider splitting this batter into 2 loaves or making a couple of cupcakes with the overflow batter. See further note below.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the mashed banana and the eggs. Add the buttermilk, oil, sugar, and vanilla and mix well.
4. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Do not over mix.  Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan.
5. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes. When a toothpick is inserted into the center of the bread, it should come out with moist crumbs but with no raw batter on it.
6. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan and place on a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing. Store covered in the refrigerator*.

Notes

*It may not be common to store banana bread in the refrigerator, but this bread gets EVEN BETTER after it’s been covered in plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator for a few hours.  If you’re making this for breakfast, I recommend making it the night before.

This loaf will rise, so make sure to have a large enough loaf pan – which should not be filled more than 3/4 full before baking or else it will overflow while baking. Use a large 9×5 pan or else fill your smaller loaf pan to no more than about 1 inch from the top.

To ensure the loaf will release from the pan, I like to butter, then add parchment paper and butter again. Dust lightly with flour before adding batter. If you are using a non-stick loaf pan, you can simply spray liberally with cooking spray.

Optional: add 1/4 cup of semisweet chocolate chips to the top of the batter before baking (or also chopped nuts, if nuts were desired) to form a crust on top.  The chocolate chip topping makes the bread more like a dessert.

TIP: If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to a 1 cup measure and then fill up to the 1 cup mark with regular milk; stir and let it stand for 5 minutes. This will produce a buttermilk equivalent suitable for use in this recipe.