Recipes Worth Trying, By: Sue Miklovic
I’m so glad that this morning I had a chance to hear an early-morning reporter say that today is National Banana Bread Day. If I hadn’t heard it on the news, I admit, I wouldn’t have known. That is a family favorite for us, although most of the time we prefer to just bake it into muffins, instead of a loaf. It would have been a bummer to not celebrate with some homemade sweetness.
I’m happy that my daughters have all continued making this treat for their families also. My own mother loved to cook and bake, and taught me at a young age about turning overly-ripe bananas into this sweet goodie. Wouldn’t you know it, I just happened to have four bananas that needed to be used NOW!
So, for today I just kind of threw some ingredients together, and poured them into a Bundt pan, making the Banana Bread look a little fancier than usual, in honor of the “Holiday” we are celebrating. After filling the pan to what I thought was the max amount without having to worry about it overflowing, I still had batter left. I turned that into nine muffins, which only took about 15 minutes to bake.
You can make this with or without nuts, but we prefer the nutty variety most of the time. Enjoy!
Sue’s National Banana Bread Day Banana-Nut Bread Recipe
Ingredients:

1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter, softened
½ cup oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (4 small)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2.Cream together butter, oil, brown sugar and white sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in mashed bananas, buttermilk, and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Stir in nuts if desired. Pour batter into two greased 9×5 inch pans. (I used a Bundt pan instead, plus had enough batter left to fill 9 muffin cups. Muffins only need to bake about 12-15 minutes.)


3.Bake for 45 to 50 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.


