Ok, so this recipe didn’t come over to America tucked amid the precious possessions of my ancestors 300 years ago or anything like that, BUT… I definitely consider it a family recipe, because there is no food in the this whole world that takes me back to being a little kid sitting in my grandparents kitchen the way this banana bread does. Let me put it a geeky way…you know that love potion in the 5th Harry Potter book/movie that changes smells depending on the person, if I walked up to that potion, mine would smell like lilacs and banana bread.
Anyways, I don’t know when my grandma started using this recipe, but from the looks of the cookbook she pulls out when she makes it, it has been awhile. I tried to find a date on the cookbook this morning, but between the ancient rubber band holding the place on the banana bread page and the fact that the cover was actually ripped off, I was unsuccessful. Luckily the when doesn’t really matter.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of white sugar
- 1 cup of brown sugar
- 1 cup of softened “oleo” (sorry, it cracks me up when my grandma calls it that…margarine or butter, whatever you prefer)
- 4 eggs
- 6 very ripe bananas (this is the perfect use for the bananas you sort of forget about and are now so brown they scare you a bit.)
- 1/3 of a cup of Buttermilk
- 3/4 teaspoon of salt
- 2 teaspoons of baking soda
- 4 cups of flour
- 1 cup of chopped walnuts (optional)
First, mix the flour and salt and baking soda in a separate bowl. Then add the white sugar and brown sugar to a large mixing bowl. Now, add the butter and cream together. Next, add the eggs and buttermilk and mix well…but don’t overdo it or the bread will get rubbery.
Now add your chunks of banana and mix until they are well broken up and distributed in your mixture.
Next, add the flour mixture and combine everything well. Stir in the walnuts here if you want.
Put the mixture in greased loaf pans or muffin tins…fill about half way. The recipe makes about 3 loaves.
Finally, put the pans in the oven and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. If you are doing muffins maybe even start checking a little earlier. Checking more is better than burnt banana bread…trust me.
From my family to yours. Enjoy!
Fun With Family History 