Can't Stay Away from the Kitchen Banana Bread

I love banana bread. My mom would make it for me and my brothers when we were growing up for breakfast. I'd drag my little cotton-headed-ninny-muggins self out of my bed and follow the smell of fresh baked banana bread down to the kitchen. Momma would cut me a warm slice, place a pat of butter on top, and pour me an ice cold glass of milk. Oh memories *contented sigh*. Lucky for my mother, but unfortunate for me, she is one of those fabulous cooks that never uses a recipe. She just goes with her gut and dumps a little of this, and a little of that and it always turns out really good. BUT! She never makes the same thing the saw way twice. This is very unfortunate for me because she doesn't write down her recipes, and she doesn't ever remember how much of what she uses. Although, there are some things she makes like lima beans and sausage, or her potato salad that, for the most part, taste the same most every time. But those are cooked-- not baked. When it comes to baking you need exact measurements to make things taste right. And so, I have been searching for a while now for a banana bread recipe that tasted delicious, was moist, and prompted those warm and fuzzy feel-good memories from my childhood. 

I have found one such recipe. 

     My new friend, and fellow Indian Princess (ha!), Becca brought a dish of banana bread to Bible study last week. I had already eaten dinner but I thought, "what the hay. I'll have a piece." After I devoured my piece I immediately wanted a second. But we were in the middle of our Bible study and I didn't want to be rude, so I waited patiently till the end and then informed Becca I would be taking some of her bread "home to Adam." Yeah right. I had selfish plans for that bread. The next morning I placed the bread in the microwave until just warm, put a pat of butter on top, and gulped it down with a glass of milk. I was home. In the kitchen. With my momma. This bread was magic! I had to have the recipe. I sent Becca a message hoping she would share her recipe with me-- and she did! I'm pretty sure she is my new favorite person. 

     Not only is this bread really scrumptious, it is insanely simple to make. And I'm gonna show you how I made it!

You will need bananas, butter, an egg, flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and vanilla. 

I can hear some of you saying, "what?! NO PECANS?!" And you know what? A few years ago I would have said the exact same thing. It just wasn't banana bread to me without pecans.

But I'll say it again; No. No pecans. You want to know why? Let me tell you a little story. There was a little old lady in my church that used to make banana bread for my family on a regular basis. This woman was like a grandmother to me. Precious woman. My brother Lance and I loved it when she brought us her homemade banana bread, wrapped in tin foil, to church. We couldn't wait to get home and have a slice. I don't know what her recipe called for, but the loafs she made were moist, sweet, and nutty from the pecans. She lived on a large piece of land that had several pecan trees. She would gather up the pecans, shell them herself, and chop them up to put in her banana bread. One Sunday when she brought us a loaf, Lance and I both cut ourselves generous slices and went to town on that bread. My dad happened to walk into the kitchen when Lance was taking a bite of the bread. His teeth crunched on something in the bread that made his jaw lock. "Uh. What was that?" he said in disgust. My dad said, "oh, it was probably just a piece of pecan shell that got left on one of the pecans." Lance started to feel a little better. Then dad said, "or-- it could have been one of her old hard fingernails that fell into the batter before she baked it and you just crunched on an old nasty fingernail." Ha! I thought Lance was going to puke. We never ate her banana bread again. We would bring it home with good intentions, but then it would just sit on the counter because no one could get what my dad said out of their heads.

So NO! NO PECANS!

Start by mashing the bananas with a fork. I didn't mash mine too fine. There were still a few chunks.

Pour the melted butter over the bananas. Mix to combine.

Then add the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Becca told me she added an entire tablespoon of vanilla-- so I did too. That was some good advice right there.

Stir to combine.

Finally dump in the baking soda, salt, and flour.

Stir until smooth.

Grease your loaf pan... or in my case two loaf pans; a larger one and a smaller one. The reason I have two loaf pans is because I made a small loaf for mine and Adam's friend Steve. You may remember him from the Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake post. He actually donated a banana from his lunch box to make this bread possible. His one condition before he gave it to me was that he get some of the bread. So here is me keeping that promise!

Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan(s).

Bake until golden brown and delicious! Just like these beauties!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

For the recipe, including measurements, click here: Banana Bread Recipe.

Like most of my other posts I always like to show you how the final product looks cut/sliced/scooped what have you. Well, I have recently become obsessed with food blogs that have "style and design" pictures of the food. Here is my pitiful attempt at "style and design." I'm trying to get better! There will be more and better to come!

This is my favorite pic :)

Crispy sugary exterior, soft moist interior. Perfection!

Yes, I need that much butter on mine. It's a requirement.

Thanks for reading everybody! Love y'all!