This Bread is Bananas... B-A-NA-NA-S!!

Thank you, Gwen Stefani, for inspiring the title for this post on, what else, banana bread! I am nuts about banana bread, ya'll! This recipe in particular is my mom's recipe, and although I don't know where she got the recipe from, it is nevertheless a deeeelicious one. I won't ramble on too long about how perfect this bread turned out. I mean, just take a look at this loaf! So golden brown and tasty...

What I like most about this recipe is that all of the ingredients are things that most of us have in our kitchen at all times, perhaps excepting the bananas. I had three super brown bananas on my counter that were either going in the freezer for smoothies or following the path to banana bread greatness... you guys obviously know what fate the fruit came to. So the next time there's a bunch of spotty, overly ripe bananas laying around on your counter, don't (please, please, don't) throw them away! Mash them up, quick and simple, and make some banana bread! 

Mom's Classic Banana Bread

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour (you could also use 1 3/4 ap flour if you don't have ww)

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted & cooled

3 ripe bananas (about 1 pound), mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups - it helped to measure it out)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and place oven rack in middle position. Spray a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside. In a large bowl combine the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside. In another bowl, combine the mashed bananas, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and fold together until everything is just mixed (don't over mix). Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then cool the rest of the way on a wire rack or tray. 

*1/2 cup chocolate chips or chopped nuts would be good in this too! I would even add a 1/2 teaspoon almond extract for a little somethin' somethin'.

*Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl" seemed like a perfect inspiration for this post :)