The Best Banana Bread Recipe

I don't know about you, but banana bread is one of our favorite treats!  I don't love bananas on their own, but once they are baked into a delicious loaf, they are transformed into the tastiest treat!

We buy a few bunches of bananas every trip to the grocery store.  The kids & Scott love to eat them, but if there are a few that start turning brown, I'm always happy to see that!  I take the overripe bananas, peel them, then chop them up and freezer them in a single layer on a cookie sheet.  Once frozen, we transfer them into a large zipoc bag in the freezer.  We use them for smoothies - the banana adds creaminess to the smoothie since we don's usually use dairy in our smoothies.  We also can use the frozen banana pieces to make our favorite banana nut bread.

Banana Nut Bread

Ingredients:

• 2 extra ripe bananas or 2 cups frozen banana pieces, thawed & mashed
• 1/3 cup butter, room temperature
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips for topping, if desired

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Whisk in mashed bananas and eggs.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and baking powder.

Add dry ingredients to banana mixture alternating in halves with milk, blending after each addition.

Pour into greased 9x5" loaf pan.  Sprinkle with chocolate chipes, if

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool in pan on wire rack for 10  minutes.  Remove from pan and let cool completely on wire rack.

Makes 1 loaf.