Banana Bread
As a rule, I do not bake. I don’t have a sweet tooth, so I don’t really care for the result, and then, frankly, I find it tedious. However, I will bake banana bread. It’s simple, and I don’t want bananas going to waste if they happen not to get eaten. Also, I need to keep making banana bread or find some other recipes I don’t mind baking because I accidentally bought a 10kg bag of flour. Here’s the (I’m sure standard) recipe I follow.
Ingredients
• 2-3 very ripe bananas (I like to have 2 disgustingly, dark, bananas that have been stored my freezer and then 1 that is just beginning to go brown, isn’t quite a lost cause but would be uncomfortable to eat. This combination just seems to work best)
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 tsp baking soda
• Pinch of salt (I’ve never totally understood this baking direction, it’s a completely random estimate every time)
• 3/4 cup sugar (1/2 cup if you like it less sweet, I tend to use less and then add in chocolate chips)
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I really don’t care what kind)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350° and butter a 4x8 inch loaf pan
In a mixing bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until completely smooth. Stir the melted butter into the mashed bananas
Mix in the baking soda and salt. Stir in sugar, beaten egg, and vanilla extract. Mix in the flour.
Toss your chocolate chips in flour before mixing them in with your batter (I saw this on an amateur baking show one time, apparently it keeps your chocolate chips from sinking, but who really knows, I just like feeling like I know what I am doing)
Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour*
Remove from oven and let cool in pan for a few minutes. Then remove the banana bread from the pan and let it cool completely before serving.
*This probably depends on your oven but I have found best success with baking for ~45 minutes at 350º then another 5-7 minutes at 300º