Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Banana Bread (Nonnie’s) Uncle Bob's Version

BANANA BREAD (Nonnie's) Uncle Bob's Version


Cream together:
1/2 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1 Tsp Lemon Extract
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup Milk
2 Mashed Overly-ripe (black skin) Bananas
Add:
2 Cups Flour
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Cup Walnuts


Tip the batter into a parchment lined Bread Loaf Pan
Bake at 350 for up to 1 Hour, until a toothpick test comes out clean from the center.




I like the idea of ‘sweet’ quick breads because they can be a nice snack at anytime of day. This Banana Bread recipe is from my Grandmother Lena Fontana. In order to save family recipes my mom would actually measure ingredients before my grandmother would dump things into a bowl. That’s how a many of my favorite recipes came to be saved. My mom watched, measured and wrote them down. 



From time to time I or my most famous niece tweak recipes, hopefully improving on them. For instance my niece has a lovely Zucchini Bread with a crumble topping on her blog. This one has less sugar than what my grandmother was noted to use and I prefer using butter rather than crisco. Other variations such as Zucchini Bread or Pumpkin Bread are quite similar, just different spices and a substitution of the bananas. Some recipes may also choose to use Baking Powder rather than Baking Soda. I prefer walnuts in this, and couldn’t even think of making this recipe without them. Just enjoy warm buttered slices when you first serve this. Rarely do leftovers last very long, so I’ve never had a chance to try turning it into a bread pudding or a french toast, maybe some day.