Banana Bread
From the Kitchen
I didn’t need a new banana bread recipe. I’ve been making the same one for nearly 20 years, and we all liked it just fine.
That seems to be the way with things like banana bread, muffins, pies and cakes. We find the tried-and-true recipe and reach for it again and again until, somewhere along the way, it becomes a kind of family heirloom—passed from one kitchen to another, one generation to the next. I already have plenty of those recipes.
But then my daughter came home last week with a loaf of banana bread her boyfriend’s mother had made for us.
And that was the end of that.
It was so ridiculously moist and delicious that after texting her to say thank you so much, I immediately asked if she would share the recipe (pretty please?). She graciously did, and with a few overripe bananas already sitting on the counter, I made a loaf right away.
It’s simpler than my old recipe, and I love that it uses melted butter—no remembering to soften anything hours ahead, which makes it perfect for spur-of-the-moment baking. So, just like that, I have a new heirloom recipe—passed from one family to another at a time when, in other ways too, our two families are becoming intertwined. There’s something rather lovely about that.
Ingredients
- 3 ripe bananas, mashed
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the long sides for easy lifting, or lightly grease and flour the pan.
- In a large bowl, combine the mashed bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture and stir just until combined. Pour into the prepared loaf pan.
- Bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly in the pan before lifting out.