Mom’s Banana Bread

Let’s talk about Mom’s Banana Bread. My “Mom’s Banana Bread”…not, under any circumstances, to be confused with your mom’s banana bread (which I’m sure is good, but can’t be as great as my Mom’s). Honestly, I think this is a recipe inherited from my Grammie, so if you want to be technical, I suppose this is actually Mom’s Mom’s Banana Bread. Whoever made it, or invented it, or first served it – they have my undying allegiance. My entire childhood was punctuated by encounters with this stuff, which is about as addictive as re-runs of Amercia’s Funniest Home Videos (seriously, how can I still laugh every single time someone gets hit [you know where] by a kid swinging a baseball bat).

Of course, it’s not surprising this recipe is now a staple in our little household. Abby devours the stuff. Literally, it’s like she becomes a human vacuum any time a piece of banana bread is placed within a 2 km radius. She comes by it honestly; one of the last batches I whipped up – I ate THREE slices fresh out of the oven. Thick slices.

Great on it’s own, it goes to a whole new level when slathered in butter or, even better, peanut butter. Everything’s better with peanut butter. Just like everything’s better with bacon. And, peanut butter is to banana as…eggs are to bacon (now wouldn’t that make a great IQ question); great on their own, but dynamite together.

This is the simplest recipe I’ve ever found, and literally takes less than five minutes to prepare.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup margarine or butter (softened)
• 1 cup white sugar (I use 1/2 cup)
• 3 mashed, ripe bananas
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Mash bananas (side note: I HATE mashing bananas with a fork, and just toss them into the bowl and turn on the beaters for a few seconds and presto – mashed bananas).
2. Cream butter, sugar (I use half of what the recipe calls for and it’s still plenty sweet), and egg together. Add bananas.
3. Dissolve baking soda in warm water, stir, and add to other wet ingredients. Add flour and salt. Mix.
4. Pour into greased loaf pan or muffin tins.
5. Bake at 350°C for 35-40 minutes (less for muffins); check done-ness with a skewer.

Notes:

I have tried, with good success, to make a slightly healthier version. I find it easier to do this by doubling the recipe. In this case I use a single egg, and replace half the butter with applesauce. The texture changes slightly, but it’s still delicious. Usually, though, I just indulge in the full-fat recipe, and tell my thighs we’ll tack an extra 5 minutes on to our next run. Life’s too short for bad desserts.

For extra kicks, I’ll toss in a handful of chocolate chips.