Dense and Delicious Banana Bread Recipe

Banana bread happens a lot in our house. My daughter is a banana lover so we always have bunches on hand for her breakfasts, but every now and then they ripen faster than my little monkey can munch them down,

This I don’t mind at all, because I love banana bread and also an excuse to bake! She loves banana bread too and always asks me to make her “muffins” (she is two).

I have a standby banana bread recipe I always go to in my “How to Cook Everything” cookbook which does a good job covering the basics, but I was in the mood for something a little more dense and flavorful.

I can’t claim this is the perfect banana bread recipe, but I do love it a lot. My microwave is currently broken, so I suppose if I was able to warm up a piece for breakfast with melted butter on top, it might be perfect after all 🙂

Let me know what you think and if there is anything you would change! You can easily leave out the walnuts altogether, or replace them with something like shredded coconut for some variety of flavors.

My favorite way to enjoy is warmed with either butter or cream cheese on top!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 1⅛ cup sugar
• ½ cup vegetable or canola oil
• 2 tablespoons buttermilk or milk
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 3 bananas mashed very well
• ½ cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter your bread loaf pan and set aside.

You will need three bowls.

In the first bowl, add your flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

In your second (largest) bowl, mix your egg, sugar and oil. I say this needs to be your largest bowl because it is the one you will combine everything in, in the end.

In your third bowl, mash your bananas very well.

With a wooden spoon, gently fold your dry ingredients into the bowl with the sugar and oil. The mixture will be very thick.

Add your milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas and mix to combine.

Lastly, gently fold in your walnuts.

Pour the batter into your baking pan and bake at 325 for 50-70 minutes until a knife can be inserted into the middle and comes out clean. I am at sea level and baked for the full 70 and was happy with the final consistency.