Good Old Banana Bread

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the smell of fresh baked banana bread.  My cousin Ginger used to make it all the time when she first came home from her mission because it was one of the things that she made regularly when out on the field.  Can you blame her? It's an awesome way to make use of over-ripe bananas and it tastes AMAZING.  I make it pretty often because of the need to use those before mentioned bananas.  Often times, I buy a ton of bananas knowing full well it's impossible for them to be consumed in time.  That idea came back to bite me hard a couple weeks ago when I had TONS of bananas left over! So I ended up making six big loaves of bread! Too much of a good thing? Maybe...but it was still fun making it and giving it away! I figured since it's such a staple in our home, I'd post it for others to enjoy as well.  I hope y'all like it as much as we do!

Banana Bread (recipe yields 2 loaves)

4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup melted butter (real butter, not margarine)

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 eggs

5 cups mashed banana (usually about 8 bananas)

I always start out by mashing the bananas. 

This day they weren't as ripe as they usually are but they were ripe enough.

Then I mix the "wet" ingredients together including the banana. 

That's the butter, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla and banana.

In a separate bowl, I mix the "dry" ingredients.  Flour, soda and salt.

I add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix just until it's blended. 

Don't over mix, it makes the bread less fluffy.  I usually just mix until I see no more "dry" flour.  Then pour mixture into greased loaf pans.  You can do this in a cake pan too.

Bake at 350 for about an hour.  If you're using a cake pan, you may want to

check it at about 30-35 mins because it won't be as thick.  Let cool and enjoy!!!

We LOVE this with honey butter! Find that recipe below. 

Quick Honey Butter

2 sticks of butter (not margarine) softened

1/2 cup of honey

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Just mix it all together and you're done!