Banana Bread

Banana muffins and now banana bread! I seem to have an infinite supply of ripe bananas. I'm not complaining though. I decided to make bread instead of muffins this time with my ripe bananas so they wouldn't go to waste. I searched Food Network for a simple banana bread recipe with high ratings and I found one! It was easy, moist, and tasteful. The whole house smelt like sugar and cinnamon.

On a side note, I recently purchased Martha Stewart's Cooking School (It was $15 cheaper on Amazon than at Barnes and Nobles). Let me just say, I LOVE it. I'm not very far into it but it is already such a great reference, especially for someone like me who has never taken a cooking class and doesn't have any family members who are exceptionally great cooks and available to teach me anything. More on this later, as I continue reading.

Banana Bread
From M.S. Milliken & S. Feniger

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 3 ripe bananas
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.

Cream the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Mix in the milk and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove bread from pan, invert onto rack and cool completely before slicing.

Spread slices with honey or serve with ice cream.