Banana Bread 

According to my daughter, my friend Allison makes the best banana bread. As far as I know we use the same recipe. Allison is a fantastic cook, so it's entirely possible that she's using some technique that I'm lacking when she bakes her bread. At any rate, this is my recipe.

I think the secret is to blend the wet ingredients, achieving a smooth banana puree, before combining them with the dry ingredients. Most recipes ask you to mash your bananas with a fork or potato masher. I started blending my wet ingredients when my kids were younger because they wouldn't eat any baked goods with "lumps." I could never quite achieve a smooth enough batter with your average masher. So I pulled out my trusty hand blender and voila', no more lumps. I've baked countless banana breads since then, with no complaints. 

I always bake my banana bread in a heart shaped pan. For the most part, because that's how Allison bakes hers and my daughter insists it tastes better that way. I also like that my heart shaped pan has markings that act as a nice guide for slicing. You can add some chopped walnuts if you like, but I never do. That would just create lumps.

Baking is a family affair in our house. We start young and never stop. One of my favoarite baking memories is the day my daughter and I both took top prize at the Columbia County Fair in upstate NY. Star bakers for the day!

No fancy ingredients here. Just be sure not to skimp on the vanilla.
Always use the best quality you can find.

Two options for your banana. You can go old school masher,
or blitz it with a hand blender for a smoother batter.

Here's my recipe:

Banana Bread

Serves about 12

Ingredients:

1 1/2c all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 stick of butter, melted and cooled
1 large banana, ripe
1/2c plain greek yogurt or sour cream
1 tbl vanilla
2 large eggs, room temperature
1c sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Spray your baking pan with a non stick spray.

1. In a large mixing bowl whisk the flour, baking soda and salt.

2. In another bowl puree the melted butter, banana, eggs and butter until smooth.*

3. Stir the sugar into the banana mixture until well blended.

4. Combine the wet and dry ingredients just until mixed.

5. Pour into prepared pan. Give it a tap on the table to remove any air bubbles in the batter.

6. Bake for about 45-1 hour minutes or until a tester inserted into the bread comes out clean.

7. Remove the baked bread from the pan and place on a rack until cool.

*Alternatively, you can blend the wet ingredients in a countertop blender.