There they were, bananas with specklings of brown crying to be used before a trip to the garbage was in order. These bananas were not to meet the same fate as their predecessors who ended their lives sadly in the garbage. Poor chiquitas. These four bananas would live to see another day, even if a reincarnated form: banana bread. I have been using the same recipe for banana bread for years and have made only minor changes to it. My children gobble it up and my husband eats it by the loaf. (Seriously he will take an entire loaf with him to work. Granted, I usually make smaller loaves, but he takes the loaf and eats it without slicing it. Trust me, the mental image is prettier than the actual live shot!)
Here is the recipe:
Banana Bread
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter (softened)
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2-3)
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (optional, but a must in this house)
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease one regular loaf pan or 3-4 small loaf pans. In bowl cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until well-mixed. Add bananas, milk, and vanilla and blend well. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt with a whisk to ensure even distribution and to add air to the mixture. This will make your bread lighter. Add this to the wet mixture and stir together until just mixed together. Do not overmix. Add chocolate chips (if you want to enjoy the extra yumminess) and stir until evenly spread throughout the batter. If you have children like mine they will count their chocolate chips to make sure they have more than their siblings. Ugh! Pour the batter into the pan or pans. If you choose to use the smaller pans, bake for 25-30 minutes. For the large pan, bake for 55-60 minutes. Allow to cool in pan if you can before devouring it!
My children wanted this for dessert tonight, but it came out of the oven too late. I promised them that they can have it for breakfast in the morning. What lucky ducks! Mommy, however, will be sampling some tonight!
Enjoy!
