Banana Bread

Because what else does one do with mushy bananas?

Sour cream may be the most versatile ingredient known to man. Aside from cinnamon. And onion. And egg. Butter. Butter is versatile. So is vinegar. I love vinegar.

Let’s try this again. Sour cream. Sour cream is certainly not a necessity for this recipe. Bananas and butter are pretty fricken good together. The sugar doesn’t hurt either. But if you’re gonna make food, make it taste better than store bought. I guarantee they didn’t use sour cream. Heck, they didn’t even use butter. A major coffee chain doesn’t even pretend to use wholesome ingredients. My recipe isn’t gonna help your belt line but it will taste really, really good. And you have sour cream to thank for it.

Oh, another thing you’re gonna need to know- don’t use fresh firm bananas. If you can’t smell their aroma on the way through the kitchen, they’re not gonna make your banana bread pop. Stick em in the freezer overnight then thaw the next day. They’ll be mushy and fragrant and brown. Brown is what you need. The sugars will have broken down into new little flavor enhancers and you will not regret it. Unless you drop a frozen one on your foot. But you can still use it. 3 second rule. Plus it comes with it’s own wrapper so that rule doesn’t even apply. Why people take a fresh banana out of the peel to eat it whole is beyond me.

Here’s everything you need. Except vanilla. You need that too. Use the real stuff. Seriously.

Use low fat or fat free sour cream. It’s still creamy but will give you a tangy kick. Trust me. I skipped the butter/sugar pic. Here’s Tina’s organic orange egg. So tasty.

Sift your dry goods. Quick breads don’t like to be over mixed so get the lumps out first. I use coarse ground kosher salt and it does NOT go through the sifter. Just add it on top. Zoom in, you’ll see it.

Y’all know how to grease and flour baking pans right? Good. Here they are 10 minutes outta the oven. Pretend there was a pic of the batter all ooey gooey.

Now- this is important- do NOT cut into this lusciousness until completely cool. These cooled to room temperature and then went into the fridge for 2 hours. Do it! Wrap them well first. Know what? Just wait until tomorrow to eat them. Do it!

Banana Bread

• 1/2 cup butter (we’ll talk more about butter in the future)
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3 ripe bananas (brown!)
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• chopped nuts if you like that kinda thing

Preheat the hotbox to 350, grease and flour a loaf pan. Cream the butter, add the sugar wee bits at a time until fluffy and incorporated nicely. Scrape down the bowl a few times! Toss in the vanilla, sour cream, and bananas. Mix well. It’s gonna smell amazing.

Sift the dry ingredients and plop in. You can add some chopped nuts here too. I don’t. Go ahead and do what you want. Mix just until blended. Don’t overdo it!

Bake for at least an hour. I usually go about 70 minutes cuz I like it a wee bit underdone. You could go as many as 90 minutes but it’ll start to dry and that’s a shame. Let cool on a rack 10 minutes then pop it out. Cool at least 2 hours, then refrigerate another 2.