.marcia's banana bread.

I love banana bread. It's a great way to use up bananas that are past their prime and it's a great way for me to feel justified by eating carbs. "Hey it's got fruit in it!"

This is a recipe my sister Marcia contributed to our family cookbook. She said she got the recipe when she was on her mission in St. Louis, Missouri and the lady she got it from was the best cook she knows. (ouch! I thought I was, sister?) Oh. She said the best cook she knew on her MISSION. Whew. Close one there. She almost made it to my black list.

This is Marcia with Perry. Aren't they cute together? Perry loves her Marci.

Anyway... I used this recipe at the bakery and sold TONS of banana bread. My good friends, Anne and Julie, told me whenever I made some, to call them and they'd come buy a loaf or two. Now *that's* devotion.

You want to mash some bananas first. The recipe calls for 1 1/4 cups mashed banana which equates to about 3 or 4 bananas.

If you have overripe bananas but don't have the time to make the bread, peel and mash and put in a ziploc then in the freezer. All you'll have to do is thaw, drain of any liquid, and put in your batter.

In a large bowl, mix together:

2 1/4 c. flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 2/3 c. sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

In another bowl, put:

2/3 c. oil
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
2/3 c. buttermilk

Mix the wet ingredients together.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix with a fork until combined. Do not overmix. Add the banana and fold in.

Add 1 cup chopped walnuts. Fold in.

Marcia personally doesn't like walnuts in her fruit bread, but she said this was pretty darn tasty. Well DUH! It's your recipe! Of course it's pretty darn tasty! Man I'm going to miss her when she leaves on Wednesday. :(

Spray a loaf pan with PAM and dump your batter in. You really only want to have the batter go up 3/4 of the way. If it's too full, you're going to have spillage in your oven and the potential for burned bread on your element and possible fire. Been there. Done that. You don't want to deal with that kind of mess. LOL So if you want, divide the batter into two loaf pans. *just* to be safe.

Bake in a preheated 425* oven for 15 minutes then turn the temp down to 350* and bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean. The high heat forces the batter to push upward and bake in a peak-like fashion. Then you turn it down to let it bake through without burning.

Personal preference here, but serve warm with lots of butter.

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_28fhwzzxjs