I’ve always struggled when it came to breakfast in my house. I would typically ignore it – or pick up a coffee on my way to work. But for my daughter – who has spent a lifetime refusing to eat cereal – breakfast options needed to be clever. I sure as hell wasn’t going to get up each morning and make her a fresh breakfast….I’m not that good of a mom. Enter the breakfast breads!
I’ve had a banana bread recipe in my arsenal for as long as I can remember. It was my mothers recipe and she got it from her mother. I’ve always known it was a family recipe – but was so tickled to actually see it written down in my Grandmother’s recipe box. I love how worn and used the note card looks – and took extra special care to take a picture of it before I put it back. It makes me feel that maybe she made this as much as I do.
Thankfully I wrote down the actual instructions from my Mom years ago. As you can see – all the recipe has is the ingredients. Nothing else. Cause when it comes to recipes – you want as much ambiguity as possible.
It’s a super simple process: Mush 3 very ripe bananas. (mush to your desired consistency – lumpy to baby food) Cream together the sugar and shortening. Add the eggs one a time and mix well – then add the banana and mix. Add all the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
Pour into a greased 8×8 or loaf pan and bake at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour. DONE!
The most notable difference between my recipe and the original was the amount of baking soda. My recipe calls for 1/2 tsp – and the original is a full teaspoon. For this post I did her recipe and added the full teaspoon….and don’t see any difference at all. In fact, the only difference I see is that I over baked it slightly. It shouldn’t be that crispy on the top. I got distracted doing something and when the timer went off – I forgot to take it out for about 10 minutes.
Even with the over baking – it’s still damn good. So, so good straight out of the oven – or nuked for 15 seconds or so. I do ask that you feel bad for me, though. No nuts in this recipe. We’re a no nut house. Not because we have any allergies, (mad respect for those that do have to live with that) but because my husband doesn’t like nuts. In anything. It’s infuriating.
Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- Dash salt
- 2 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3 very ripe banana
- Nuts Optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and grease a loaf pan or 8×8 dish
- Mush 3 or 4 ripe bananas
- Cream shortening and sugar.
- Add eggs one at a time – mix well after each egg.
- Add the banana and mix through.
- Add all the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
- Pour into greased pan and bake at 350 for roughly 45 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.
Your grandmother’s banana bread was the Best! Your’s looks just as good.