
Its been, well, arctic of late, to say the least. And who really wants to go outside. But alas, there is still work and school to attend. So to ease the pain brought on by those freezing temperatures, its time for a crowd favorite here in my home: banana bread.
I keep a stash of overripe bananas in a ziploc in my freezer for just these kinds of occasions. I let them defrost for a bit in a bowl, as there always seems to be a lot of extra “juice” once the bananas have melted. But they are the perfect consistency for the quick bread.
One important note, be sure your butter is room-temperature. I’ve tried to cheat here and there, (melting the butter. etc) and the bread always turns out the best with the softened butter.
And it really does taste amazing fresh out of the pan, still piping hot with cup of fresh coffee, especially when its arctic outside!
Banana Bread
(recipe modified from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything)
8 tbsp, softened butter (1 stick)
2 cups AP flour
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
3-4 very ripe bananas-mashed
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/8 tsp. fresh ground nutmeg
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan with butter.
• Mix together in a large bowl the dry ingredients: Flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar.
• With a mixer, cream the butter. Then add in the eggs and the mashed bananas.
• Add the butter-egg-banana mixture to the dry ingredients and combine. Now add in the vanilla and the spices. Mix until combined.
• Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for almost 45-60 minutes. (my oven is less than reliable so I start checking the bread at around 45 minutes with a skewer to see if the center is done. Your testing instrument of choice (knife, toothpick etc) should come out clean.
• Cool for about 15-20 minutes before trying to get the bread out of the pan. Its a mess if you don’t!
Now go cut yourself a slice and pour yourself a nice cup of coffee to enjoy with it!