Welcome to my first Sweet Spells Sunday with a recipe! As I mentioned before on the Instagram, Sweet Spells Sundays will not be magical recipes per se. They'll just be regular baking--but then again anything can be made magical with intention!
Today I'm going to share with you my favorite banana bread recipe! This recipe comes for Martha Stewart and it's the one I've used for years. Every now and then I make some variations, but it's never disappointed me!
For this recipe you'll need:
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature, plus more for pan - 1 cup sugar - 2 large eggs - 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour - 1 teaspoon baking soda - 1 teaspoon kosher salt - 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas - I usually use 3-4 to make it extra soft - 1/2 cup sour cream -- this is incredibly important because it makes the bread moist - 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Optional:
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan; set aside. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat to incorporate.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture and mix until just combined. Add bananas, sour cream, and vanilla; mix to combine. Stir in nuts and pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool.
Variations:
So actually the miniature banana breads in the picture above are strawberry banana. I had some extra batter left over from the full loaf and decided to experiment. For this recipe I took about a cup and a half of strawberries and put them in a blender to puree. I then added the mixture to the remaining batter and went about baking them like the full loaf. Just note that if you're using a mini loaf pan you'll bake them for less time than a full loaf. So keep an eye on them! I ended up baking them for about 40min and they came out beautifully!