Banana Walnut Bread: Simple but Yum!

My mom requested I make Banana Bread; she bought Cavendish bananas which were on sale because they were starting to go overripe. I guess she missed the stuff since I went into baking different recipes.

Bananas are pretty stoked if you ask me. Besides being a nice dessert after meals or a snack, it's packed with a unique composition of nutrients while gives us a lot of health benefits. High in potassium and low in salt, it's a perfect way to battle high blood pressure. Bananas contain trypthopan, which helps the body in processing another protein found in bananas called serotonin; these acts as anti-depressants and reduce feelings associated with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and even PMS. Eating bananas helps us re-balance when we're stressed by replenishing your potassium reserves. It also helps you recover when you're experiencing withdrawal from trying to quit smoking. Bananas works as antacid to soothe heartburns and is recommended as a hang-over  cure by making it into a milkshake. 

Before I get to scientific about bananas, just think of this: have you seen an angry monkey if you give him a banana? ;)

Okay, that was lame... haha! Anyway, the bananas mom bought were close to over ripe and spotty, perfect for baking. I decided Banana bread instead of crumble bars since it's the easiest thing to bake. A friend posted on my Facebook wall that my blog is not for beginners. I choked a bit. Flattered in some way, but bothered that I'm being too ambitious with this blog. Ehe, I think she might be right; like my mom is right about me focusing on the basics. So let me rewind myself a bit and present to you the reason that got me hooked to baking; the bread that started it all:

The culprit: Banana Walnut Bread.

BANANA WALNUT BREAD

INGREDIENTS

*makes 1 loaf

3 Cavendish bananas

1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter, room temp

2 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup raisins optional

1/2 tsp cinnamon optional

1/4 tsp nutmeg optional

PROCEDURE

*Preheat oven to 375F. Butter loaf pan.

1. Mash bananas to consistency of baby food. Should make at least 1 cup. Set aside.

2. Soften butter then beat in eggs, vanilla and sugar.

3. Add in flour, salt and baking soda. Mix well until smooth. Mix in mashed banana until well incorporated in the batter.

4. Pour half of the batter into loaf pan. Distribute walnuts and raisins on top to get even amounts of walnuts throughout the loaf. Pour remaining half and spread evenly. Top with more walnuts and raisin if preferred.

5. Bake for 50 minutes. Test if done by piecing the loaf  in the middle with a thin bbq stick, if it comes out clean, it's done. If batter still sticks, bake for another 5-10 minutes. Once done, take out of the oven and completely cool before slicing or removing from loaf pan.

...completely cool before slicing or removing from pan isn't a virtue practiced in our house. As soon as it comes out, someone would sneak past me and help themselves. I was luck enough to get the shot above without any crust pinched-off. But who wouldn't want to have a warm slice of Banana bread then topped with vanilla ice cream or slathering it with more butter?

After it was done, left it on the kitchen counter to cool. Then I took a bath, listened to some Adele. When I got back to remove the bread from the pan, it was already wiped out; and me the baker didn't have a change to taste it. Sigh.

Anyway, if Cavendish seems to be unavailable, local bananas called Lakatan can be a substitute. About 3-4 bananas of this variety will work with this bread, make sure that they're really ripe and don't mind the bruised parts because they're the best. You could also use any baking pan or muffin pan instead of a loaf pan. Add more nuts, less or none. Raisins or no raisins. I even tried mixing finely grated carrots making it a Banana Carrot Walnut Raisin Bread. Now that's a mouthful, but tasted yummy too! ^_^