Banana Nut Bread

I have never liked the taste or texture of bananas, eaten as a plain fruit. But oddly enough, I rather enjoy them in banana nut bread. If I can get nostalgic for a minute and take you back to my childhood, I really love banana Kits and Now-and-Laters. Remember those? I actually used to call them Nowlaters…when did they put that ‘and’ in there? Lol.

There was a candy lady in our neighborhood that sold every candy imaginable, right out of her living room, and we could buy those for just pennies, along with Boston Baked Beans, Cherry Chans, Alexander the Grape, Pop Rocks, Fun Dip, Jolly Ranchers, Atomic Balls, Laffy Taffy, BB Bats, Sugar Daddys, Sugar Babies…need I say more? Ah, those were the days.

I have gotten feedback from a few of my non-cooking friends about the desserts being too hard to duplicate and needing some easier recipes. Now I will buy that for the cheesecakes and more complex desserts. But seriously, the bread recipes, that don't include yeast, only require you to be able to measure and mix. So no more excuses! This recipe can be prepared in just minutes and you can be eating bread in less than an hour and a half. And this doesn’t require all of the fancy equipment, like the stand mixers; it can be mixed with a hand mixer…and some bread recipes with a wooden spoon. So, let’s get this party started.

Banana Nut Bread

1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 large bananas, mashed, very ripe
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a standard loaf pan or line with parchment paper.

Stir together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar until blended. Beat in the banana, then the eggs until completely blended. Incorporate the flour mixture into the egg mixture in three additions, being careful to not overmix. Fold in the walnuts until blended.

Spread the mixture into the loaf pan and bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.

All photographs are actual pictures of the recipe listed, prepared by Virtually Everything Sweet, and cannot be used without the owner’s consent.