Recipe: Banana Nut Bread

Another home staple from my Mom for all of us kids:

Banana Nut Bread

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed bananas*
1/4 cup chopped nuts, optional
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs and beat well.
Stir in mashed bananas and mix well.
Stir in nuts, if you want them.
Sift dry ingredients together and then stir in.
Pour into greased loaf pan.
Bake at 350 deg. F.
approx. 40 minutes

Yield: 1 loaf

*Note about bananas: the Best bananas are those that were frozen whole, defrosted, and then mashed. Freeze any bananas that have ripened past their preferred taste and consistency stage. Just put the whole banana in the freezer. Each thawed banana is equivalent to almost 1/2 cup mashed bananas. Thus, for a recipe like here, use 3 average-sized bananas, depending on how small or large they were prior to freezing.

The original recipe called for solid shortening, which I will personally never use again in my baking or cooking. I've been using butter instead for years, and it's great! I also sometimes add in some nutmeg or cinnamon, and perhaps some flavoring like vanilla.

Enjoy!