It's Banana Bread Time (Again)

Welcome to November (already). It's the perfect time for me to get back to baking. Fall🍁temperatures finally are getting seasonal here in Nashua, NH and those 70-degree temperatures in October will be just a memory by the end of this week. It will also be darker early as daylight saving time ends on the first Sunday in November, when clocks are moved back an hour. 

Now that Halloween🎃tricks are over, here's a treat to enjoy.

Before posting this recipe, I checked on how many times this blog has included a similar recipe. It was four times (2010, 2011, 2012 and 2016) Not sure how I skipped a few years cause we usually have some over-ripe bananas that need to be used quickly. The choices (according to Grenville) are banana bread or banana bread. (You get the idea he likes it.)

Previous recipes from various cookbooks and online had results ranging from great to OK. 

This one was not only very good, but easy too It's from a cookbook in my collection, The Martha Stewart Cookbook: Collected Recipes for Every Day. This was a requested birthday gift a few years ago. There's no glossy photos in this book, just a no-frills approach in its nearly 600 pages.

The recipe gave a choice of using either 1 large loaf (9x5x3 in.) or up to 4 smaller ones, depending on the size pan. I opted for 2 smaller pans which were the same volume as the larger 9x5 in. pan. 

Banana Bread (Martha Stewart)

• 1/4 lb unsalted butter (1 stick) at room temp.
• 1 C sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1-1/2 C flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 C mashed very ripe bananas 
• 1/2 C sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 C chopped walnuts or pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter pan (s)
2. Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, beating well.
3. Stir dry ingredients together and combine with butter mixture. Blend well.
4. Add bananas, sour cream, and vanilla. Stir well.
5. Stir in nuts and pour into prepared pan(s).
6. Bake 1 hour or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Turn out onto a rack to cool, then enjoy (but wait till it cools).

Grenville and I enjoyed this treat with of glass of milk. That's healthy, isn't it?