Banana Bread

If you’re like me and my husband, we can just never quite finish an entire bunch of bananas in our household before they get too brown and soft. I don’t like to waste food, so I always try to find a use for those over-ripe bananas. The base of this recipe comes from a church cookbook, but I’ve tweaked it over the years to make it my own. It works perfect for a loaf pan or for muffins!

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Crush bananas in a small bowl with a fork and whip until very light
3. Cream butter and sugar together with a hand or stand mixer.
4. Add eggs and incorporate. 
5. Then add flour and baking soda. Mix to combine.
6. Add bananas and mix until fully incorporated.
7. If you’d like to add chocolate chips, now is the time. Fold them in with a spatula. 
8. Turn into a well-greased loaf pan or muffin pans. 
9. For a loaf pan, bake for 55-60 minutes. For muffins, bake for 20-25 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. 
10. Enjoy!

Step-by-step pictures:

Crush bananas in a small bowl with a fork and whip until very light.

Cream butter and sugar together with a hand or stand mixer.

Then add flour and baking soda. Mix to combine.

Add bananas and mix until fully incorporated.

Turn into a well-greased loaf pan or muffin pans. For a loaf pan, bake for 55-60 minutes. For muffins, bake for 20-25 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

The first time I made this recipe, I think I had to be about 8 years old, and I made it as a 4-H project to take to my local county fair for judging! I always enjoyed baking as a child, and still do now! I love to bake for my husband, family, the harvest crew, etc. And sometimes I just bake for something to do – like on a relaxing Sunday afternoon. 🙂

I like chocolate chips in my banana bread, but Jacob prefers it plain. It is perfect right out of the oven with a little spread of butter. The loaf is perfect to have at home, or even for gifting, but I also love that I can use this recipe to make muffins. They work so well for field meals or just to keep in the farm shop for anyone to quickly grab. 

So don’t throw those brown, soft bananas away! And even if you don’t have the time to bake with them right away, throw them in a Ziploc bag and throw in the freezer to use at a later date! I just pull the bananas out of the freezer and put them in the fridge to defrost overnight. 

With the rainy weather in the forecast for us, I thought maybe a baking recipe would come in handy for anyone looking for an inside project over the next few days. 😉 

Rooted in ag and led by faith,

Ellyn