Ingredients
- * 2 to 4 very ripe bananas, smashed
- * 1/3 cup melted butter or margarine
- * 1 cup sugar (can comfortably reduce to 3/4 cup)
- * 1 egg, beaten
- * 1 teaspoon vanilla
- * 1 teaspoon baking soda (not baking powder) (should ideally be less than 6 mo. old)
- * Pinch of salt
- * 1 ½ cups of all-purpose flour
Optional: ¼ cup chocolate chips (Berto likes it this way!) and/or ¼ cup of walnuts if you like them. Make sure they’re fresh. Stale walnuts = super blech!
Preparation
No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix melted shortening into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a well-greased 5×9 inch standard loaf pan (I recommend greasing even if the pan is “non-stick”). Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.
What makes it special?
We used to tuck a half slice of this bread into our son’s lunchbox when he was a student at Riverside Elementary. We discovered after a while that he had been sharing it with his friends, and that his good friend Berto especially appreciated the version with chocolate chips. At that point we started calling it “Berto’s Banana Bread,” and tucking a few extra slices in our son’s lunch.
What’s Your Connection to Princeton?
I moved to Princeton for love in 1997 and have lived here ever since.
Recipe shared by Shelley Krause
Photo Courtesy of Creative Commons
“banana bread” by ted_major is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0