Banana Nut Bread

With the weather being cool, it is the perfect time for baking with the windows open!   I cranked up my music and danced around the kitchen while I whipped up the batter.  Usually it is a pretty good arm workout if you don’t use your Kitchen Aid blender, so I opted to put a little elbow grease into it, stirring to the beat of the music.  Don’t be afraid to get your hands in there too to help mix…especially when you are blending the sugar and butter together….it is much faster (and more fun) if you use your hands. 

Usually people cook banana bread when their bananas are getting brown, but unfortunately for me, the grocery store didn’t have any brown bananas (and I didn’t want to wait a few days for them to brown), so I went online to find a remedy.  If you are really impatient, I learned that you can place the bananas in the oven (skin on) and bake them for about 20-30 minutes until the skin is brown.  This also helps bring out the flavor of the bananas. 

Browned Bananas

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

 1 teaspoon salt

 2 teaspoons baking soda

 1 cup butter

 1 cup white sugar

 1 cup light brown sugar

2 cups mashed overripe bananas (~5 bananas)

 4 eggs, beaten

 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Combine flour, salt and baking soda into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the butter and sugar until smoothed together. Stir in the mashed bananas, eggs, and walnuts until blended completely. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture, and blend well.  Divide the batter between two greased loaf pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes…until a fork comes out clean. 

Recipe Source: Lindsay Klindt

Picture Source: Lindsay Klindt