RECIPE: Banana Nut Bread

If you have a baby or two in your home, you probably have bananas on hand. And if you are like me, you stock up when they are having a sale at the store. Lately, I've been having to pay about $.69/lb for bananas! That is so crazy! The other day, my friend who is in the Spanish congregation told me about this man who buys a truckload of produce and odds and ends at the farmer's market and sells them in his front yard. So last Saturday, I loaded up the kids and I followed her over there. I got 8 plums, 4 huge bananas, 1 giant pineapple (cut up it yielded 9 cups of chopped pineapple), 4 apples, 1 bunch of parsley, 1 bunch of cilantro, 6 cucumbers, 8 plum tomatoes...all for $11!!! It was only supposed to be $10 but I had the extra $1 and felt like it was such a good deal, I needed to give it to him.

I already had 6 bananas from Publix and combined with the bananas purchased from the Latino farmer's market, we had an overabundance. By now the bananas are past their eating prime for me and Haylei but Hunter loves these overripe ones. I decided to make a banana nut bread with 3 of the overripe bananas. Let me start this off by stating I do not like cooked bananas in anything BUT this recipe. Not even traditional homemade banana pudding. I know! A southern girl does not say that but alas, there it is. I found this recipe in one of those envelopes you get by mail. You know the one I'm talking about..."enjoy recipes for years, I mean months, only pay $5.95 a month for the rest of your life, I mean for a year" kind of deals. Needless to say, I didn't get caught up in that scheme but I did enjoy trying out a few of the free recipes included in the mailer. This is one of them but of course, I tweaked it a bit to my liking...feel free to do the same.

Banana Nut Bread

• 5 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cup mashed very ripe bananas (I used 3 large bananas)
• 1-3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional) I like just a hint of cinnamon-y warmth)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream or buttermilk
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts, you choose)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan with non stick cooking spray.
2. Beat butter in large bowl with an electric mixer set at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add both sugars; beat well. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until well blended. Add mashed bananas and beat on high for 30 seconds.
3. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder in medium bowl. Add flour mixture to banana mixture alternately with heavy whipping cream or buttermilk, ending with flour mixture. Add nuts to batter; mix well. (TIP: toss the nuts with flour to prevent them from sinking in the batter)
4. Pour batter evenly into prepared loaf pan. Bake until browned and toothpick inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. IF the toothpick comes out wet, continue baking and check every 5 minutes to prevent over baking.
5. Cool bread in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove bread from pan; cool completely on wire rack. Slice and serve with butter. (Kevin likes to slather his with Cool Whip)

This is really great for breakfast, broil it in the oven for a few minutes to get it toasted. Or eat it at room temperature. So yummy!!!

And yes, that's my mom's old Corning ware Cornflower pattern loaf pan, she passed it to me when I moved out on my own. And if it makes it, I'll pass it to Haylei when she moves out...I hope that's a long time from now...

Enjoy!


This post has been linked to:
URS at Life as Mom (Nuts and Seeds)