Moist Banana Bread

Our very sweet neighbor came over today and cleaned off our driveway with his Bobcat. I appreciated it so much because I got stuck in our driveway last night after going to Target and had to wade through 2 feet of snow to get to the front door, only to find that I couldn’t get it open because the snow was too deep in front of it. Then, I had Jason open the garage, but I had to wade through 2 feet of snow to get to the garage. My pants were wet and my arse was freezing by the time I got in the house. Though it was sunny and warmer today, it still didn’t make a dent in the snow in our driveway. I told Jason this morning that he was going to have to do something about it so I could get out to go to work in the morning. As I was leaving to run to the grocery store this afternoon, I saw our neighbor beginning to plow off our driveway. I decided what better way to thank him than with some homemade banana bread (’cause that’s how I roll)? I’ve made this recipe before and it’s extremely moist and very delicious. This will be my go-to banana bread recipe from now on. I’ve also made this and sliced and froze it and it was great reheated as well. This makes 2 loaves, but you can easily halve the recipe if you don’t want that much. I recommend making a full recipe and freezing a loaf.

Banana Bread

1 c. butter (soft at room temperature, or it doesn’t blend right)

2 c. sugar

3 cups mashed ripe bananas

4 eggs

1/2 t. vanilla

4 c. white flour

4 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

1/2 t. cinnamon

1 c. chopped walnuts, optional

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cream butter and sugar. Add banana pulp and mix until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. Add flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Beat for 1 to 2 minutes until well blended. If using, fold in nuts. Pour into two greased 9×5x3 loaf pans and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until a cake tester inserted comes out clean. As soon as you remove the bread from the oven, cover with foil and don’t remove until the bread is cool. This can be frozen as a whole loaf or sliced. If you are freezing individual slices, wrap each slice well in plastic wrap and then foil before freezing in a large ziploc bag. To serve, reheat frozen bread slice in the microwave for 15 to 30 seconds, or until warm.