Mmmm! There's Nothing Like Freshly Baked Banana Bread

Alright, I know there's nothing particularly special or exciting about yet another banana bread recipe. I'm sure you've already got your tried and true favorite. I, however, didn't have one until this past weekend. A friend of ours had his wife bake up a loaf of her delectable banana bread and mailed it to us. Once I tasted it I knew I had to have the recipe for myself. I think the trick to hers turning out so darn tasty is the quantity of bananas she uses. She really overdoes it, adding twice as many as I've seen other recipes call for. Although this does add to the baking time the end result is a deliciously flavorful and moist loaf of banana bread. Another tip she gave was to leave some of the banana chunky and not fully mashed. It was a lovely surprise to encounter a bite with an actual hunk of banana. If you love bananas as much as I you'll probably love this recipe too.

I whipped up my very own batch on Saturday and am pleased that my results were almost as good as hers.

Banana Bread

1 cup of sugar
1 stick melted butter (1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs whisked
1 1/2 cups self rising flour
5-7 whole bananas (overly ripe and mashed up with a few un-mashed chunks left in)
1/2 cup pecans (optional, pieces or whole...your choice)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

1) Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a loaf pan with butter or spray and lightly flour.

2) Combine sugar and melted butter and whisk to combine. Add vanilla extract and stir.

3) Mix in eggs and stir until thoroughly combined.

4) Add the flour in three additions and the mashed banana in two additions, beginning and ending with flour. Stir until just combined.

5) Fold in optional pecans and raisins.

6) Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 50-70 minutes. The more bananas you use the longer it will take. Test bread by inserting a butter knife into the center to see if batter sticks. Continue to bake until no batter sticks to knife.

7) Cool completely in pan on rack. Once cool, invert onto rack and serve.