Nut Splittin’, No Fussin’, Banana Bread
We have a custom at our house. When bananas ripen to at least the black polka dot stage, one of two things will take place. We wait a few more days and enjoy the honey like sweetness…or we throw them into a plastic bag to hibernate in the freezer. And when fancy strikes on an icy day in January and we want a sweet and nutty bread that comes together in 15 minutes and is on the table in about an hour, we know just what to do.
This great “warm me up from this horrible winter” banana bread is quick and very easy to prepare. If Marge and I work together, we can have the batter ready in ten minutes. She will rescue three of the frozen, now quite black fruit from the freezer and quickly warm them up in the microwave. I will whip the sugar, eggs, shortening, and now mashed bananas together with a splash of vanilla. Marge, already having whisked together flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder, dumps all into my wet mix. We fold in some chopped nuts of our choice, scrape the batter into a prepared loaf pan and we’re done for the day. Sixty minutes later the aromas waft lazily throughout the house, the bread hops out of the oven and in ten minutes the butter is melting…on our bread and in our mouth.
So here is our gift to the lovingly indolent cooks like us…very little effort…truly great results…
NUT SPLITTIN’, NO FUSSIN’, BANANA BREAD
Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar (or 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup dark brown sugar)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 very ripe bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup roughly chopped nuts of your choice
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan with canola oil, or prepare with butter and flour.
Whip sugar, eggs, oil, mashed bananas and vanilla with electric mixer until smooth and creamy, around 2-3 minutes. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in another bowl. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix just until moistened. Fold in nuts.
Pour into loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until toothpick or thin knife inserted into bread comes out clean. Remove from oven, cool on rack in pan for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and cool slightly on rack. Serve warm with softened butter or fruit preserves. Add a dollop of crème fraiche or sour cream for a rich touch.
Daylight is best but studio lights work too!
COMING SOON…ULTIMATE LEMONY SCONES!!!
comments
3 Responses to “Nut Splittin’, No Fussin’, Banana Bread”
Leave a Reply
This looks exceptionally easy. I will give it a try and let you know how it turns out.
This looks delicious…I have my mom’s recipe…similar…but, she used sour cream not veg oil…I’ll find the recipe…I make it in a Bundt pan…
From Author Jim:
Reader mentioned that she tasted too much baking soda in bread. You can cut baking soda down to 1/2 teaspoon without affecting rise too much.