November 14, 2011

Sally's Banana Bread

One of my favorite things to do on the weekends is bake. It's football season, which means my husband is glued to the couch for college football on Saturdays, NFL on Sundays, and Monday night football. It gives me free rein of the kitchen and makes the house smell wonderful. This weekend I went for banana bread.


My friend Beth's mom made the best banana bread growing up. She shared the recipe with me and it is my favorite - very moist and sweet. I always end up eating too much because I consider it "healthy" bread. It has fruit in it, right? This recipe is great because you can make it in 3 small loaf pans and give it away as gifts (so you won't eat it all)!





Ingredients:
1 1/3 C vegetable oil
3 C sugar plus 1/2 C sugar
4 eggs
6 ripe bananas
1 C sour cream
4 C flour
1 1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t baking sodea
2 t vanilla
1 C chopped pecans

Directions:
Beat eggs in small bowl.
Combine oil, 1 C sugar, beaten eggs, bananas, & sour cream and mix.
Add vanilla and beat until combined.
Add salt & baking soda while beating.
Gradually add flour 1/2 C at a time and beat on low.
Pour into 3 loaf pans (not more than 2/3 full).
Sprinkle mixture of 1 C pecans and 1/2 C sugar over top before you bake.
Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. 














Tips & Extras

Bananas - I always buy a bunch of bananas and never eat them all. There's usually a pathetic wounded soldier sitting on my counter in about a week.  I put these overripe bananas in the freezer. When I have enough bananas, I make banana bread. You just have to defrost them for about 30 minutes at room temperature. 

Pan - You don't have to grease the pan but I like to spray a little vegetable oil cooking spray so it slides out nicely. I halved the recipe and only used one pan. I filled it a little too high (big mistake - ended up pouring over a bit in the oven). Make sure you only fill the pan 2/3 full!

Recipe size - This makes a LOT of banana bread. I cut it in half sometimes (as I did here) or make a loaf of bread and some muffins. 

Cooking time - Check the bread with a toothpick or thin knife to make sure it's cooked. If it comes out clean, the bread is ready. If you make muffins, make sure you monitor the cooking time on the muffins so they don't dry out. Check the oven at around 30 minutes. 




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