Banana Bread

If you have some old, brown, past-their-prime bananas laying around...here's your solution: Banana Bread. This is a pretty standard recipe, but it is great, especially if you put the streusel topping on top. This bread freezes well, so you can make several loaves and pull it out the next time you have people over.

Oh, one last thing I learned from my brother-in-law; try toasting the bread and putting butter on it, it is delicious!

Banana Bread

Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens (75th Anniversary Edition)

Pictures by Caroline
Prep: 25 minutes
Bake: 55 minutes
Oven: 350°
Makes: 1 loaf

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 beaten eggs
1 ½ cups mashed bananas (5 medium)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cooking oil or melted butter or margarine
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 recipe Streusel-Nut Topping (optional, although a must in my opinion)

1. Grease bottom and ½ inch up sides of one 9x5x3-inch pan or two 7 ½x 3 ½ x2-inch loaf pans; set aside. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl combine eggs, bananas, sugar, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy as shown in picture above). Fold in nuts (if you are doing two loafs you can make one with nuts one without, just add the nuts after you spoon the batter into the pan). Spoon batter into prepared pan. If desired, sprinkle Streusel-Nut Topping over batter.
3. Bake in a 350° oven for 55 to 60 minutes for a 9x5x3-inch pan, or 40 to 45 minutes for a 7 ½x3 ½x2-inch pans, or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean (if necessary, cover loosely with foil the last 15 minutes of baking to prevent over-browning; I always do this). Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on a wire rack. Wrap and store overnight before slicing.

Streusel-Nut Topping:

In a small bowl combine 1/4 cup packed brown sugar and 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour. Using a pastry blender (I just use the back of a spoon or my hands), cut in 2 tablespoons butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 1/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional).