My step-dad, Scott, gave me this simple recipe years ago and it has never failed me since. If you want to make a moist, classic, no-frills banana bread, look no further! It’s easy to make, doesn’t require a mixer, and is pretty hard to screw up!
Prep time: 10 minutes. Bake time: 1 hour
Yield: 1 loaf (or several mini loafs, depending on what size pan(s) you choose)
Ingredients:
3 – 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar (can easily be reduced to 3/4 cup)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix melted butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and blend. Add the flour last and mix in. Pour mixture into a buttered (or PAM sprayed) 4×8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour (I normally place it on the top rack of oven). Let cool. Remove from pan and slice to serve.
Pro tips:
- The riper the bananas the better, so if they aren’t nearly brown/black, I normally take off their peels, cut them into slices, then microwave them for 1 minute to help soften them up and make the hand-mashing easier.
- I personally would not recommend using whole wheat flour to make this recipe a bit healthier – the times I’ve done that the taste & consistency just isn’t as good.
- If you use the above temperatures for the oven, you’ll probably have to leave it in for another 5-10 mins after checking it with a toothpick at 1hr, if you’re going for a perfectly crispy top and moist inside.
- I love this recipe as is. But if you want to spice it up, feel free to add banana slices on top (as in above photo), or serve with a bit of Nutella or butter. Yum!
For those in the Barcelona area, if you love the sound of this recipe, but aren’t into baking yourself, you can email me for order inquiries! (samhopehansen@gmail.com)
SAMHOPEHANSEN 
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