Best Banana Bread Ever... Seriously!

It happens to everyone - you don't eat your bananas fast enough and suddenly you have a bunch of brown, soft bananas on your hands. You don't want to waste them, but they're not exactly fit to just eat on their own. Make banana bread with them! Its quick, easy, delicious and can be healthy too (depends on the recipe you use!). You can be in and out of your kitchen in one and a half hours - 15 minutes of prep time and about 1 hour and 5 minutes in the oven. Not a bad deal for such a delicious tasting treat!

My favorite banana bread recipe is from a cookbook I received as a wedding present called The Best Bake Sale Ever written by Barbara Grunes. Its such a great cookbook - every recipe I've baked out of it has been a success. Any way, on to the recipe!

Just-The-Best Banana Raisin Brean

Minimally Adapted from The Best Bake Sale Ever

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp each baking powder and baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature (for a lower fat alternative, substitute 1/2 or all of the butter with unsweetened applesauce)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (to cut down on sugar, you can use splenda brown sugar in place of real brown sugar)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (3-4 very ripe bananas)
• 1 cup chocolate chips (or omit this all together for plain banana bread)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray or grease a non-stick loaf pan (9x5 inch).
2. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream butter for a few minutes until it changes colour (should be almost white). Add sugars and continue beating until fluffy and light (about 2 minutes). Add the egg, beat well. Mix in the bananas. Beat in flour mixture. Add chocolate chips, raisins or whatever you're adding to the batter.
4. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in center of preheated oven for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
5. Cool bread in pan for 5 minutes, then invert onto wire rack and turn right side up to cool completely.

This banana bread recipe is great! Be sure to use really ripe bananas - they blend into the batter nicer and also impart more flavour into the bread. While you're at it - double the recipe and make two loafs - you'll eat it all, don't worry! Enjoy!

Happy Baking my Friends!