Banana Walnut Bread
"The best version of quick bread I have ever found--very moist and flavorful without being overly sweet. Be warned...it takes "forever" to cook, but it is well worth the wait. Wait until you have extra bananas and make a double batch. This is an adaptation of an 80-year old recipe I got from my ex-mother-in-law. A good trick for the bananas is to put any overripe bananas you may have into the freezer--as is, no peeling necessary. They will keep for months and when you are ready to use them, thaw in a bowl, snip off the top and squeeze out the banana with the liquid--no mashing necessary. If you're just using regular ripe-ripe bananas, gently squeeze them all over while still in the peel; they'll be mashed and ready to go. This recipe makes 1 regular loaf or 3 mini-loaves."
photo by Hungry Hogareno
- Ready In:
- 2hrs
- Ingredients:
- 9
- Yields:
-
1 loaf
ingredients
- 1 cup walnut pieces
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 large eggs
- 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 -4 very ripe bananas
directions
- Preheat oven to 250°. Lightly spray pan with cooking spray, then coat lightly with flour and set aside.
- Chop the walnuts, if necessary, and put in a large bowl. Add dry ingredients--flour through salt--and stir to combine.
- In a medium bowl, blend or whisk together the butter, eggs and vanilla. It doesn't need to be completely smooth, just blended well. Stir into the dry ingredients. Add the bananas and stir thoroughly. The batter will be quite stiff.
- Transfer batter to prepared pan and bake at 250° for one hour. Rotate pan, if needed, raise temperature to 350° and bake for another 20 minutes. Turn oven off and let bread rest in cooling oven for 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for minutes before serving. To store, let cool completely and keep, tightly covered, in refrigerator up to one week.
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Reviews
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My family really liked this, in fact I think they ate it all in one day. It took a long time to cook with the hour at 250 then raising it to 350 but it was a pretty and tasty loaf.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Semi-professional--have worked in restaurants for 25+ years and working in the kitchen is my best therapy. I love to try new and different ingredients and techniques and parse out most of my experiments to friends & family and any other willing guinea pigs.
My favorite cookbook, right now, is "The Art of Simple Food", by Alice Waters--amazing recipes, information and advice for any level of cook.
Here in the desert, you've gotta try Wangs, Roscoe Grill, Copley's, Tyler's...to name a few.
My all-time favorite restaurant is Huggo's on The Big Island of Hawaii--the food is pretty good, but the ambience & location are what put it over the top.
