Recipe Monday: Banana Bread

Happy Monday! Today I’m linking up with Annmarie from The Fit Foodie Mama and Cassandra from Powered by BLING for an awesome #MeatlessMonday link up!

Have you ever had an abundance of bananas that you just couldn’t eat before they all turned brown? I may be partial to bananas, because as a runner I tend to eat a lot of them. Plus when you add kids to the equation, you’re adding another bunch of bananas to the grocery cart each week. But sometimes we just don’t make it through two bunches of bananas! (Gosh, we sound bananas for eating so many bananas…)

I found myself in such a predicament last week. We somehow had an over-abundance of these beautiful, perfect fruits. And unfortunately they started to look sad and brown. So when you find yourself in such a situation, don’t throw away your melancholy bananas. I can assure you they aren’t sad at all. They’re just seeking a new life and a new way to bring joy to your belly!

This is my family’s favorite recipe for banana bread. You can use as much or as little banana as you’d like — just be sure to adjust cooking times to account for added “liquid.” Also, I’m not sure how many of you have tried this before, but refrigerated banana bread is so fetch. It’s firm, it’s filling, it’s portable. It’s amazing.

I totally beg to differ.

I highly encourage you to try this amazing recipe for banana bread. Whatever recipe you’re currently using (if any) will definitely be replaced. And if you don’t eat banana bread now, this is a game changer.

ENJOY!!!!

Banana Bread

Ingredients

2 C all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick butter, softened
3/4 C brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3-6 overripe bananas, mashed (the more the merrier!)
sprinkling of chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Grease a 9×5 bread loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer on high speed. I recommend using the paddle attachment if you have one.

After the butter and sugar are creamed, switch to the whisk attachment. Add in eggs and bananas until well blended. Stir the banana mixture into the flour. Stir to moisten. Be sure to stir enough to scrape all the flour off the bottom of the bowl and combine well. If you’re using chocolate chips, add them now. Pour batter into the pan.

Baking times will vary. If you use 3-4 bananas, aim for 1 hour or so. If you use more bananas, like 6, aim for about 75 minutes in the oven. You’ll want the outside to be nice and brown, but not crispy. Be sure to check for doneness with the “toothpick test.”

After the center of the bread is baked, remove from the oven and let cool in pan for 10-15 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.