Banana Bread

I just want to say that I was so busy at Christmastime that I forgot to add anything to my blog. We had house guests coming and going, and had just moved into our new home one month ago. It has been pretty hectic. Now things have calmed down a bit. Our new neighbors love to have parties, (we love our friendly neighbors) so I look forward to baking a few things very soon for the New Year’s masquerade party. I’ll try to remember to take a picture and post my recipe. Oh and I received a KitchenAid stand mixer as a gift from my daughter, so that’s been fun to experiment with.

Banana Bread Yummy, and simple to make.

• 3 ripe bananas
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature (or softened)
• 2 eggs beaten
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup buttermilk or regular milk
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 F. Use a small amount of butter to grease a loaf pan. (about 1 tsp)

In a bowl smash sugar and bananas together with a fork, add softened butter and combine well. Next add in the eggs, vanilla, and milk, and stir, then combine 1 cup of the flour, baking soda, and salt to the mixture. Once that is a smooth consistency add the 2nd cup of flour and combine well. Lastly, add the walnuts.

Pour batter into buttered loaf pan and bake for 65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

You can divide it into two loaves and bake about 30 minutes. Check with toothpick as above.

Remove from oven and let cool 5-10 minutes before removing from pan. Let cool on wire rack. Enjoy warm or cold. I like it warm with salted butter.

Note: I used buttermilk because I was out of regular milk, and it came out great. I have made this bread without nuts and it’s still very good. Although I prefer it with nuts. As I mentioned above, I am now the proud owner of a stand mixer. It’s great for mixing, and I did use it to make the banana bread this time. Except for adding the nuts. I don’t use it for small batch recipes. Honestly I like mixing my bread by hand. It’s therapeutic I think, well for me anyway. So we’ll see how this new shiny mixer fits in with my kitchen magic. Did I mention I have a lovely new kitchen too? I love it! No more tiny kitchen. This baby’s got room!  Happy Holidays to you and yours. Enjoy each other, and share your bread.