Dana’s one bowl banana bread recipe

I was going to do a final test on my new banana bread recipe last night. Unfortunately I couldn’t follow through with my plans since my skanky bananas were missing when I got home! Vanished. Gone. In other words: not where I left them!

At first I ran around locking all the doors and windows – obviously we’d been robbed and a crucial point of vulnerability needed to be sealed. But, as it turns out, the bananas were not, in fact, stolen. My husband had thrown them in the freezer so that I’d have them when I wanted to make banana bread! Too funny!

Anyhow, I thawed my skanky, black-skinned bananas in the refrigerator today and made a loaf of banana bread using the recipe below. I hope you’ll try it and let me know whether it meets your high standards(I’m looking directly at you Adrian!). Around here it’s garnering satisfied ooh’s and ahh’s!

One Bowl Banana Bread

2/3 cup (150 mL) softened butter

½ cup (125 mL) lightly packed brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup (250 mL) mashed, very ripe banana, about 3

1 tsp (5 mL) pure vanilla extract

2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour

1 tbsp (15 mL) baking powder

½ tsp (2 mL) each baking soda and salt

1 cup (250 mL) chopped pecans, walnuts or chocolate chunks (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C). Place the butter in a large bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until light and fluffy (feel free to use an electric mixer if you prefer). Blend in the brown sugar and beat until light. Beat in the eggs, adding one at at time. Blend in the banana and vanilla until well incorporated.

Add the flour. Sprinkle the baking powder, baking soda and salt over the flour. Stir these smaller amounts of dry ingredients into the flour. Using deeper strokes, blend the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until almost fully combined. If adding nuts or chocolate, fold them in.

Scrape the batter into a lightly greased 9 x 5 –inch (2.5 L) glass loaf pan and smooth evenly to fill to the edges of the pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes on the centre rack of the oven until the loaf springs back when lightly touched on top. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Turn loaf out and cool completely before slicing. Makes 10 servings.

Tip: I made a loaf using ½ cup (125 mL) butter that was fine when fresh but it dried out by day 2. So, if you are going to make and consume this bread on the same day, feel free to lessen the butter. Otherwise, stick with 2/3 cup (150) ; it’s more awkward to measure but necessary to prevent staling.