An excellent question: is this my mother's banana bread recipe, or my grandmother's?
I think the former. My grandmother made banana bread not by the pailful, but by the can-ful. She quite literally recycled tin cans by pouring banana bread dough into them, baking them (I assume upright?), and then popping the bread out onto a plate, ridges and all.
But my mother's banana bread is the very best ever. Just the right consistency, just the right flavors, a little less sugar when I make it, but still a sweet treat, especially straight out of the oven. I know that when I wrote out my own recipe card, I did so with my three (now fairly beaten up) bread pans in mind -- not full-size, but not tiny. I should measure them -- 7" x 3"? I wrote out my card for 1 1/2 x the original recipe, which must have made two loaves. Mine makes three.
Just the right size, because if they were full-size bread pans, we would simply eat more of it at one sitting.
Banana BreadGrease the pans and bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
3/4 c. vegetable oil
1 - 1 1/2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 c. mashed bananas
1 1/2 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. salt
3 c. flour
1/2 c. nuts (optional -- I never use them)
Now, you might say "yum, what could be better?"
My friend Dana shocked me the first time she showed up at a daycare event with banana bread with chocolate chips in it. But of course, everything is better with chocolate chips. So now I say "why not?"
Double yum.
