young lady baking banana bread

*(Based on the opinion of the baker)

I have had this recipe since law school (over 25 years ago!). A heated inter-office debate had me declaring that this is the best recipe.  What I like about this recipe is that you can switch out all kinds of ingredients and it is still great. I leave out the white sugar (but use a lot of chocolate chips). Add chia and flax! Switch out a portion of the flour with ground flax or coconut flour. I have tried coconut milk instead of butter. Some substitutions are better than others, but they are still all delicious.

Banana bread:

1 ¾ cup flour

½ cup butter or other shortening

1 tsp baking powder; ½ tsp salt; ¼ tsp baking soda

2 eggs

3 to 5 over-ripe or frozen bananas (peeled of course)(about 1 ½ cups)

Sugar (optional, I leave it out, but official recipe is 2/3 cup)

Chocolate chips (not optional for me, but it’s a personal decision)

Mix dry ingredients and the butter (cut in the butter with a fork); add in the mushed bananas, eggs. Mix, and pour into cupcake or loaf pan (I use parchment paper in the loaf pan because I don’t like to clean).  Bake until it smells great (and the knife comes out clean), about 20 minutes for muffins and 45-55 minutes for the loaf.  Be careful, its hot! And watch out for teenagers, the smell of banana bread lures them from their caves. 


This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Ceri-Balbi-600x600-bw-150x150.jpg

Written by Ceri Chwieros