Someone inquired via Twitter about a good recipe for banana bread and this one from Sheila Lukins’ All Around the World Cookbook came to mind. It is probably not your grandmother’s banana bread. It uses butter—quite a lot of it, and an equally generous amount of sugar and eggs, all making for a decadent take of the otherwise virtuous let’s-make-use-of-these-overripe-bananas banana bread.
It’s good as is, but I come from the school of thought that most any bread deserves to be toasted.
Miss Maud’s Banana Bread from Sheila Lukins’ All Around the World
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
6 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch of salt
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and lightly flour a 9 X 5 loaf pan.
Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and gradually add to the wet mixture, scraping the sides of the bowl and making sure all is well combined.
Mix in the bananas and vanilla until well combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top and bake for 1 1/2 hours or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Cool for 10 minutes in the pan then turn out onto a rack and cool completely.
Makes one rich and tasty loaf.
