Banana Bread

We've been busy this summer, running around, getting ready for school to start, and wouldn't you know it, I look over on the counter and I have a few bananas starting to turn brown.  Too brown for small people to eat, that is for sure.  To them, brown = poison!  Head for the hills if your apples oxidize!  Fruit peels and flesh should be empirically attractive before the small fry shall deem it edible.  I decide we should not let these ugly, yet extra sweet banans go to waste, and that this would be an excellent time to test out a new banana bread recipe.  So behold, I give you about the best thing you can make with a few-days-old fruit!

Delicious Banana Bread hot from the oven - something everyone will love!

If you google "the best banana bread ever" a myriad of recipes will pop up.  One of the first few is from Martha Stewart.  After a quick glance through the ingredients, I really liked that the recipe had sour cream in it, which I hoped translated into that the whole thing was going to be intensely moist and deliciously dense.  Here is a link to the original recipe, which we followed exactly (minus the nuts).

First you will need the following ingredients:

1 stick of butter at room temperature
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt (less if you use salted butter)
1 cup of mashed bananas
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cups chopped nuts (optional)

Take your softened butter and 1 cup of sugar and place in a mixing bowl and cream together.

Add two eggs.

Until Blended well.  Add in 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and the salt.  Mix just until blended

Now you want to add in your 1 cup of mashed bananas, the 1/2 cup of sour cream, and the 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

Blend together to form a nice smooth batter.

Pour into a prepared pan that has been greased with butter

And bake at 350º for 70 minutes, or until golden brown

Your house will smell like heaven at this point.  Keep in the pan to cool completely, or after about 10 minutes turn out to a cutting board to cool.

Mmmm can you smell it?

At this time you can cut it up and serve it.

Mmmmm mmm delicious!  If you get a chance to eat it while it is still warm, it's pure heaven I tell you.  You can also let it cool all the way, wrap it up, and give as simple house warming gift, hostess gift, eat it for breakfast the next day.  I can't imagine anyone refusing delicious, homemade from scratch banana bread.  We like to put a little butter on it while it is still warm and enjoy it with a cold glass of milk.

So all in all, this turned out to be a great recipe.  That Martha really knows what she is talking about.  The bread was very moist, very dense, and of course very delicious!  Happy Baking, enjoy!