Michael's favorite [morbid] medical joke is to warn someone "I hope you didn't buy any green bananas," inferring that a patient doesn't have much time left -- not even enough to enjoy ripened bananas in a few days. But this week, we found ourselves full of life, family, and fun and with overripe bananas on our hands. They say when life hands you lemons, make lemonade. Well, when life hands you brown bananas, make banana bread; nay, make chocolate iced, banana walnut bread.
Banana bread is quick and easy because it is not a yeast bread. I adapted a recipe from the Taste of Home Cookbook to share with you so that I could add some warm flavors.
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract [my add because it's just crazy talk to not include some warm vanilla flavor]
- 4 mashed bananas
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 packets maple brown sugar oatmeal [my add instead of 1 cup quick-cooking oats because it's a way to sneak in more sugar]
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 cup walnuts [my add instead of 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, but I have not qualms about adding both]
- vanilla frosting
- chocolate frosting
I said it was an easy recipe, so here we go…
- Preheat your oven to 350°.
- Cream your shortening and sugar. Add in your eggs one at a time.
- Beat in the bananas and vanilla.
- Combine your dry ingredients and them add gradually to your liquid mixture.
- Fold in walnuts and mix thoroughly.
- Transfer your mixture to a greased 9"x5" loaf pan.
- Bake for 60 to 75 minutes or until you can pull a fork out clean from the center.
- Cool for about 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Microwave frosting for about 75 seconds to soften, then drizzle, generously, over loaf.
- Slice to serve.
The best thing about banana bread is that you can serve it for dessert…or for breakfast. We served it for dessert at our New Year's dinner, but more on that evening later [I know you saw that champagne in the picture]!
