Banana Bread

This is a recipe my Mom always made as I was growing up, and I've continued the tradition with my family. Now my daughter makes it too! I think you'll agree - once you've had this you'll never like any other banana bread recipe; It's the best - 5 stars!

Difficulty: Easy
Preparation: 10 minutes
Baking: 1 to 1-1/2 hours
Source: Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook from the 1940's.
Oven Temperature: 325

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 overripe bananas
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
Mix sugar, shortening and eggs until well blended. In a separate bowl mix flour and soda. Add the flour and bananas to the egg mixture and blend well. Add nuts, if preferred.

Lightly grease a loaf pan with butter spray. Pour the batter into the pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out mostly clean. If you wait until it's completely clean, its usually too long and the bread will be dry. Also, for added moisture, I usually freeze my bananas until ready to use. Thaw in microwave. Peel bananas and add to batter - squeeze the banana peels over the batter to extract as much juice as possible.

Best made on a rainy day, at least that's our tradition!
Posted by Debi