Banana Bread

Last night I discovered the Summer Hits from the 90’s station on Pandora. Oh my. What a party. The 90’s brought me through my most formative years, and it’s really fun to have a memory associated with each new song that comes up. My husband probably got tired of hearing me tell him how this one was playing at our swim team car wash… the school dance… on my stereo all the time. Memories aside, it was also a ton of fun teaching my daughter to say, “No scrubs!” and listen to Jeron sing a highly edited version of Sublime’s Santeria to the kids.

There’s nothing 90’s about this bread. It won’t talk you into wearing flannel or piercing your eyebrow or getting a tribal tattoo.

This bread will, however, talk you into eating five or so slices over the course of the day as you walk by it to do the dishes or pick up your kids’ toys or… yeah I just walked by it to eat it sometimes.

I’ve tried quite a few banana bread recipes and this one is by far my favorite. I’ve mentioned before how I think all bread should have chocolate in it and that certainly holds true for this loaf. I happened to leave the chocolate out on this occasion because my dear husband doesn’t hold the same sentiments about chocolate that i do. Sometimes you need to cook food the way your husband likes it rather than the way you like it. This is how marriage works.

You should have all your ingredients at room temperature to make this bread. If you don’t feel like waiting around for things to warm up, the butter can be cut into cubes and microwaved for a few seconds to soften it up (be sure to check it often so it doesn’t melt). You can also place the eggs in a bowl of warm (not hot) water for a few minutes to bring them up to temperature.

Banana Bread

Adapted from The Joy of Cooking

⅔ cup white sugar
6 tablespoons butter, softened
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 ¼ cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 large)
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat sugar and butter on medium speed until creamy. Beat in eggs and banana. Add the dry ingredients in about three parts, scraping down the bowl and beating until smooth after each addition. If desired, fold in nuts and chocolate chips with a rubber spatula.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake about 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool slightly in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

The bread will keep, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, at room temperature for three days, if you can keep people away from it for that long.