Banana Bread

Am I right in thinking that pretty much every household has their own banana bread recipe?  Perhaps it's a Traditional Family Recipe... one that's been passed down generation to generation, and Godhavemercyonyou if you even dare think of tweaking it.  Or maybe it's one you just stumbled across one day.

I had one, not a family recipe, but one I've been making several years.  It was fine, my family ate it joyfully, but there wasn't anything about it that got me super excited.  And then I saw this in my new birthday cookbook (Thanks Mom!!!!!)... I think I have a new banana bread recipe!!

Banana Bread
Recipe from Ellie Krieger

1/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large, ripe bananas, peeled and mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)

1.  Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a 9x5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.  Spread the nuts out on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until fragrant, about 8 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

I love walnuts!!

2.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

The usual baking suspects

3.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, yogurt, eggs, and vanilla.  Whisk in the bananas.  Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, just until combined.  Stir in the toasted nuts.

Looks a little curdled after adding the bananas.  That's ok.

4.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 50-55 minutes.  Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then transfer the bread to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

Mmm... I kinda want to dip graham crackers into this.

One of my favorite ways to eat banana bread is with a healthy smear of peanut butter on it.  Yeah, it's kind of a nod to Elvis.  I keep thinking about taking it one step further and sprinkling on some chocolate chunks, adding another piece of bread to make a sandwich, and dipping it french toast batter for uber-ific stuffed french toast.  I've had pointed out to me that Nutella would also make for an unbelievably decadent filling.  If you happen to beat me to this crazy breakfast, would you please let me know if it's as awesome as I think it would be?  Thanks!

Oh!  And if you notice you have bananas heading toward Crazy Ripeness Land but no time to do any baking, no worries.  Go ahead and mash them up, put in a quart-sized freezer bag and freeze until you do have the time.  I do this so much, I couldn't tell you the last time I made banana bread using freshly mashed bananas.