Going Bananas for Banana Bread

So much has happened lately that I have a number of things in my stack of stuff to post. We just finished up the attached greenhouse and I took pictures of the building process, I picked the last of the tomatoes from the back garden last night (many green!) and will make a Piccadilly. I have the first foothill prepper meet up planned for the second Sunday in December, but this post is about Banana Bread! Yep, it's about banana bread because I had eight overly ripe bananas on my counter begging for me to do something. That meant either peeling and putting them in the freezer OR banana bread. Since it is a cold and rainy day here the banana bread option won out.



Not to brag or anything, BUT (and you saw that coming) I'm a pretty good judge of baked goods. I like to cook and have mostly baked from scratch. Over the years, I've made and tasted my share of banana bread. The recipe I've used for the last five or so years is quite possibly the best banana bread EVER, IMHO! I like it because it rises up and is not too dense, yet it is moist with a full banana flavor.  I first tasted this particular recipe when my wonderful friend and mentor, Shirley J, made it and graciously gave me a slice. Wow, now that was great banana bread. Upon request, she kindly shared the recipe with me. She has a 1974 community published recipe book called Sandhills Cookbook from Purdum, Nebraska. The recipe contributor was Suzanne Harms of Valentine, Nebraska. Here's the recipe:

BANANA BREAD

1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter
3 Tbs. sour milk
2 cup flour
1/2 Tbs. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Cream together sugar, eggs, butter, and milk. In separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry to the wet and mix just until blended. Add the mashed bananas and 1/2 nuts if desired. Pour into loaf pan and spread evenly. Bake one hour in preheated oven @ 350 degrees. Remove from pan and let it cool a bit before slicing.

Enjoy!

Bonus points if you know how many times "Banana Bread" appears in this post! :-)