Banana Bread

Banana bread is one of those food items that many people know of, have eaten, but aren't really sure why it's so popular. Or more importantly, why is it so hard to find a good recipe?!

Look no further. Once you get a taste of this moist, fragrant, and tasty bread, you'll never look to another recipe again.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 3-4 large, ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a medium-sized bowl. Blend in bananas, vanilla extract, and eggs.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture, and mix until just combined. Mix in the walnuts, if desired.
5. Pour into loaf pan and bake. Check after 35 minutes to see if it's cooked all the way through, by poking all the way through the middle with a toothpick or skewer stick. It must come out clean, with some crumbs clinging onto the wood. It may take up to 60 minutes, but I would recommend taking it out of the oven at 45 minutes.

(Makes one loaf. If you want two loaves, double the recipe and distribute the mixture evenly between two greased loaf pans.)