Banana Bread

Mmm, just the smell of bread in the oven, any bread, creates such a warm feeling.  The weather has been so cold and snowy/stormy that warm, fresh from the oven treats are so very welcoming.  So selecting what type of bread is the next step.

I always seem to have a couple of bananas that have ripened to a point that no one in the house will eat them.  The number always varies; 1, 2, 3; occasionally it's as many as 5, and there's different recipes for the number you have to work with. There's also a lot of variety in how much sugar goes into the recipes, and I prefer using as little as possible.

This is a recipe I modified from the cookbook, "Pilsbury Complete Cook Book." It has the least amount of sugar per banana and the easiest flexibility as far as the number of banana's I have to work with.  It also turns out super moist with a slight crisp to the edge.  My kiddos would eat this every meal of the day if they could when it's in the kitchen.

Ingredients:

- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 2 eggs, room temperature if possible
- 1 1/2 cups (3 medium) mashed ripe bananas
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 c chopped nuts, optional


1) In one bowl, mash bananas and mix in the milk. Set aside.
2) In a second bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3) In mixer, cream together softened butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time until smooth. Add vanilla.
4) Add about 1/2 cup of the flour mix. Once blended, add about 1/2 cup banana mix.  Continue in this alternating manner until all the flour and banana mixes are completely added. If you want to add the nuts, fold them in at this time. If you would prefer chocolate chips you add those in the same manner.
5)This recipe makes 1 large loaf or 3 small loaves. Grease your pans before adding the batter. Oven should be heated to 350F. Baking time varies on the size of pan. Three small pans will bake in 30-40 minutes while the one larger pan will bake in about 50-60 minutes.

Variation:
- You can make these in whatever pan you desire.  Here's an example of how I made them into Mini Muffins. I also added chocolate chips instead of nuts; awesome!