Bumped Up Banana Bread

One of the first cookbooks I owned was the Better Homes and Gardens red & white checkerboard thing.  I got it for Christmas  long ago and I have to say, I couldn’t live without it.  With all the cool cookbooks I have and use, when I need just a basic recipe for this or that I go back to the old standby.  This is where I go when I need to know how long to roast a chicken, or how to make pizza dough, or what should go in lentil soup.

Here’s the thing that always makes me laugh.  It’s got a basic recipe for everything, but nothing more than basic for anything.  And there are lots of things with lard and margarine and other stuff that I don’t generally cook with.  So I find a recipe, and then I replace stuff I don’t like with ingredients I actually use, and then add stuff to make it more interesting.  And that sort of messing around is how I ended up with this delicious banana bread recipe.  Here’s the funniest part:  the original recipe says to let it cool overnight before slicing.  Hahaha!  Yeah, right.  Who does that?

Bumped Up Banana Bread

Bumped Up Banana Bread
(adapted from Better Homes & Gardens)

1 3/4 cup flour, divided
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (3 bananas)
1/3 cup butter
2 tbsp. milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

In a large mixer bowl combine 1 cup of flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add mashed banana, butter and milk.  Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until blended, then on high speed for 2 minutes.  Add eggs and remaining flour and beat until blended.  Stir in nuts and chocolate chips.  Grease & flour a loaf pan.  Bake at 350˚ for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack.  Remove from the pan and cool completely on the rack.

Banana Bread, fresh out of the oven

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