Mom’s Banana Bread

You simply cannot go wrong with banana bread. Especially if it’s your mom’s recipe! Actually, it’s my mom’s mom’s recipe. You know it’s a good old-fashioned recipe when one of the original ingredients is shortening. My mom always made it with butter instead, but you can bet my grandmother made it with some old-school shortening!

My mom also tweaked the recipe by adding extra banana. She probably had a few too many bananas on hand and figured it couldn’t hurt. Not a bad idea! This recipe is actually a great way to use up brown, spotted bananas before they spoil. No worries if they don’t look pretty. They’ll bake up to be something pretty delicious!

When I got my hands on the recipe, I added some chocolate chips. Everything is better with chocolate, right?! But I will admit, this banana bread doesn’t need any additions. It’s simply delicious on its own! Sometimes the simplest recipes are also the best ones!

This banana bread starts with a simple dry ingredient mixture of flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Then just whip up some butter, sugar, eggs and beat ’em good. Mash some bananas and slowly begin to incorporate them into the butter/sugar/egg mixture, alternating with the dry ingredient mixture. Toss in some chocolate chips and pour that batter into a well-greased bread pan. Bake for about an hour (trust me, it’s worth the wait!) and cool.

If you ask me, banana bread is best served warm and fresh from the oven with a little bit of butter. It’s delicious for breakfast with a smear of peanut butter and a cup of coffee. And it’s amazing for dessert with a little Nutella and a cup of tea.

So if you’re going a little stir crazy, why not bake a banana bread to pass the time? You won’t regret it. And a little piece of banana bread in the morning just might make your day a little brighter!

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Mom’s Banana Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 ¾ cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ⅓ cup butter, softened
• ⅔ cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups mashed bananas (about 3-4 whole bananas)
• Handful of chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir and set aside. 
3. In a large bowl, cream softened butter using a hand mixture. Gradually add sugar while continuing to beat until light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs to the butter and sugar mixture. Beat well.
5. Add flour mixture to the butter/sugar/eggs, alternating with mashed bananas. Add a small amount of the dry ingredients/mashed bananas at a time, beating after each addition until smooth. 
6. Pour batter into a well-greased bread pan. 
7. Bake for 1 hour or until done. The bread is done when it is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.