I Go Bananas; and Every Time I See Your Face, I SELF-DESTRUCT!

The coffeshop that I work at has a huge bookshelf on one wall, flanked by four or five other shelves, chock full of books and magazines. People donate to them, try to steal or buy them, and usually read them if they didn't bring one of their own. My favorite part of the assortment would have to be the large collection of Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines. Although I get Bon Appetit, there are lots of issues from before my subscription that I like to go through.



I was doing just that one Sunday, while waiting for customers to realize that we were open so I could make them some coffee, when I came across a new banana bread recipe in the copycat section. My tried and true recipe is great, but it takes butter; and I have found that when you want to bake a lot of something, butter slows you down, both time-wise and financially. But eureka! This recipe had vegetable oil to substitute.In the end, I discovered that butter is better. This bread ended up being lighter and less dense than my other banana bread recipe, but it had just as much banana flavor.



Copycat of Some Sort of Banana Bread
Makes 2 large loaves

5 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
6 to 8 large overripe bananas
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups nuts, toasted and chopped (optional)


Prehet oven to 350 degrees. butter and flour two 9-inch loaf pans.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. Set aside.

In another bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Then whisk in sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Pour flour mixture into wet mixture and whisk just until combined. Stir in nuts.

Pour batter into prepared pans and smooth tops with rubber spatula. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Store at room temperature or wrap tightly with saran wrap and freeze.

Note: If I remember correctly, this made two loaves and then some. You could probably do 2 large and 1 small loaf, or 2 loaves and some muffins.