There is just something about banana bread that screams "home" to me. My mother used to make banana bread, and I loved it. I know for a fact there were many occasions where she made some, and it didn't even make it four hours before I had made it into the kitchen every 15 minutes for a new piece... And somehow it all disappeared... I'm still not sure how it disappeared, exactly... It's a... mystery.. ;)
Any who, I got the recipe from my mom and started to make my own... I really like it because not only is it absolutely delicious, but it's also fool proof. I was able to make it easily. And the words aren't complicated - combine, mix, mash.. Easy peezy. One thing I didn't know what what shortening was, or where in a store to find it. So if you're a newb like I was, shortening is a fat. A fat? Yes, a fat. In your bread. Trust me, it's delicious. And in the store, you would find this on the baking aisle. I embarrassingly had to call my mom in the middle of the store to ask, with my then fiancé in tow... I'm not entirely sure where she got her recipe, so if somehow she figured out how to use the computer back then and find a banana bread recipe, then please tell me if it is yours, because I have no idea who to source if she got it from somewhere.
Well, here we go!! Here's what you'll need to get started:
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (one handful) optional
Cooking/Nonstick spray
Also, a loaf pan =)
I like to start by preheating the oven, because it's nice for it to be nice and hot when you put in the loaf. So go ahead and preheat the oven to 325°.
After that, I peel the bananas. The bananas should be ripe, and soft. To mash them, I use a banana masher.. (potato masher, obviously ;])
When you're done mashing, is should resemble applesauce. That's when you know it's nice and done. Should only take about a minute or so of mashing.
In a medium to large size bowl, mix together your sugar and your shortening. If you are using a mixer, I would not recommend using it at this stage yet. I like to take the shortening and smear it into the sugar. Easier for mixing later.
Then you go ahead and add to the sugar and shortening mixture: eggs, baking soda, bananas, and 1 cup of flour. And then mix together really quick. Then add the other cup of flour, and mix well. At this point, if you're using walnuts, and want them in the bread rather than just on top, go ahead and add half of your walnuts.
Ahh. Nice and mixed. =)
Spray your loaf pan with non stick spray. I use Pam, but you can use anything. =)
Go ahead and using one of those soft, scraping spatulas for baking, pour the mixture in the loaf pan. I chopped my walnuts at this point, and you can see them on the right.
Sprinkle the walnuts (if desired) on top of the mixture in the loaf pan. Then take the loaf pan, and drop it from an inch or so high a couple of times. This gets rid of any air bubbles, and really sets the walnuts to bake in the bread.
Place your pan in the oven at 325° for 1 hour and 15-25 minutes, depending on your oven. If you don't know you're oven yet, and for some reason you've decided that you want banana bread to be the first thing you make, then just start taking a peek at it at about an hour or so, and every 5 or so minutes after until it looks done. The outside should be delicious looking. Look for something like this:
Yummy! And there you have it. A delicious, fool proof banana bread.
-Ashley
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