The Best Ever Banana Bread

When I was little, I used to have a very difficult time saying "bananas." It most often came out "nanabans" (or nan-a-bans for those of you not acquainted with me and my family since my early childhood).

Phonological process disorder now overcome, I have not (and I suspect will never) gotten over my love affair with the delectable golden pods.

My love of these scrumptious little goodies leads me to feel as if I am about to have a moment reminiscent of Bubba from Forrest Gump, so I'll spare you and cut to the chase...

Years and years I have searched for a great banana bread recipe. I've tried far too many that are not worth sharing and always come back to the recipe from my first ever cookbook - a child's Gold Medal Flour ABC Cookbook.

Last night, with a bunch of bananas that had been forgotten on the counter over the holidays, I made two (count 'em two) loaves of pure deliciousness.


The recipe is as follows:
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (3 large)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs (or egg substitute if you're going vegan)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I prefer to add 3/4 cup)
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease loaf pan with shortening (no matter what your mother taught you about flouring the pan after you grease it, you can skip that step for this recipe).
Mix sugar, bananas, oil and eggs with wooden spoon. Add remaining ingredients.
Pour into baking pan.
Bake 60-70 minutes.
Let cool 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Happy Baking!