Quarantine baking is the latest craze. Cookies, cakes, pies, casseroles and breads are coming out of ovens everywhere.
I have gotten bit by the baking bug too. I'm hooked on cakes and breads and getting the kids in on the action too. We still have a sourdough starter that a friend gave me right before our staff starting working from home. Three months in and Susie Sourdough - yes, we named it - is still in the fridge and we feed it weekly.
Lately, I've been seeing a lot of people baking banana bread. Bananas are always on our grocery list. Hubby snacks on frosted corn flakes and bananas pretty much every night before bedtime. How he manages to stomach milk after 7 pm boggles my mind, but that's a story for another day. Let's talk about the difference between him ordering bananas from the grocery store and me ordering bananas from the grocery store. When HE orders them he orders a lot. Me, I typically order a bunch of about 5 or 6 bananas. I hate when bananas go bad and it never fails when HE orders them I'm left to figure out a recipe to save our hard earned grocery money.
So, last week I looked at the banana tree and there were 3 sad looking bananas. Covered in black and brown spots, mushy in spots just begging to be used. None of the kids wanted a smoothie. They were too ripe for banana pancakes and there was no room in the freezer so what to do... what to do.
BANANA BREAD
I remember I had a recipe for banana nut bread that my great grandma had given me. It was one of her pantry staple recipes. You know the recipe that you can make because you probably have all the ingredients in your pantry? Yeah, one of those.
✓ Flour
✓ Sugar
✓ Baking soda
✓ Bananas
X Nuts - oh nuts, I didn't have any nuts in the pantry. Oh well, banana bread it is.
The recipe is simple and it's kid friendly. I remember my great grandma letting my sister and I smash the bananas, measure the dry ingredients, stir and pour. My great grandma lived in West Virginia and each winter she would come stay with us. She baked everything from scratch. I never saw her open a single box. She made magic with flour, sugar and baking soda and I'm so glad she shared some of her recipes with me before she passed away.
The recipe is really simple and like my granny always said you;ve probably got most of the ingredients in your pantry..
Ingredients
- 3 ripe bananas
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup melted butter (I use unsalted butter)
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350℃
- In a large bowl, mash bananas with a fork
- Gently stir in all other ingredients and mix well
- Pour into loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes or until edges pull from corners of your loaf pan
- Let cool 10-15 minutes before slicing
*now for the rum twist*
Heat 1/8 cup rum and 1 tsp. butter in a saucepan until butter melts. Stir. If you don't want to heat in a sauce pan, you can use a microwavable bowl and use your microwave. Just be sure to stir the rum and melted butter.
Use a fork to poke small holes all over the top of the banana bread and drizzle the rum butter on top of the fresh baked banana bread.
Do you bake?
What family recipes have been passed down to you from a loved one?
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