Sunday Afternoon Banana Bread

I am convinced Sunday is the kind of day when you need something comforting to brace you for the week ahead. It's the last day when you can pretend that the weekend is here. It's the day when you can no longer ignore the mountain of work that's all miraculously due on Monday morning at eight o'clock. It's too late to ask the professors for an extended deadline. There's no dog to take the blame.

Obviously you need to bake banana bread.

You can't go wrong with banana bread. Brown, overripe, ugly bananas are transformed into a beautiful crown of a loaf. Nuts, chocolate, and other fruits are incorporated at the baker's preference. The house gets filled with the baking aroma of banana and cinnamon. It's super easy to prepare, and super delicious hot off the oven.

Banana bread is also a miracle food that tastes even better the next day. So...Monday morning breakfast, anyone?

The trick to a fantastic banana bread is using super-brown, overripe bananas. The older the banana, the sweeter the bread. Do not fear the brown and black spots. That's like the banana telling you it needs to be baked into bread.

Luckily for me, I had four fantastic bananas just chilling out on the kitchen counter.

Some recipes tell you to use a fork or a knife to mash the bananas, but I've found that using a regular whisk works just as well, if not better. Plus you can use the same whisk to mix the batter, so there is less cleanup at the end.

Don't forget to grease the pan and place it in a preheated oven. Trying to wrestle a bread out of a pan is no fun at all. Trust me on this.

My bread took about an hour to bake. I did the toothpick test at the 1 hour mark, increased the time by 10 min, then turned off the oven to let the residual heat bake through. Worked like a charm.

Now all that's left to do is eat, eat, and brave the week ahead. 

Banana Bread

*makes one 9-inch loaf*

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 3 ripe bananas
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.
2. Cream the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Mix in the milk and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove bread from pan, invert onto rack and cool completely before slicing.

Source: allrecipes.com