Banana Bread

I have been on the lookout for the perfect banana bread recipe for a long time.  I think I found it.  I think this bread is so yummy.  I started making it months ago for the kids to take in their lunch.  My little guy has this thing for what he calls "cake bread" this year.  He wants it every day & that is hard to do!  But guess what, not with this recipe!  It makes 2 loaves and 4 dozen mini muffins with one batch!  And the best thing is that it freezes well.  So, I would make it ahead of time, pull it out in the morning and it was thawed out by lunch time - and tasted like it was just baked.  Just what I need!

I knew this recipe was going to be the one for me when I saw it had the secret ingredient for all good baking - sour cream.  Anytime something has sour cream in it, I love it.  Try this for yourself!

The Best Banana Bread

1/4 cup white sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

3/4 cup butter

3 cups white sugar

3 eggs

6 very ripe bananas

16 ounces (2 cups) sour cream

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

3 tsp. baking soda

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Grease four loaf pans - or two loaves plus some muffin tins!  

 

In a small bowl mix together 1/4 cup white sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon to make a nice mixture.  Dust the pans lightly with the sugar mix.  I usually dump some in the middle of the pan with a spoon and then shake the pan until it is nicely dusted like the picture above.  Do the same with the mini muffin tins.  This is what is going to give you are really yummy and kind of gooey bottom to your bread!

In a large bowl or mixer, cream the butter and 3 cups of sugar.  Then add in the eggs, bananas, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon.  I don't even mash up the bananas first - just throw them in and mix!
Then add in the salt, baking soda and flour.  You can stir in the nuts at this point if you want some in your bread.  The mixer is full and the batter is just a little lumpy - yum!  It even tastes good as batter!  Fill your loaf pans about 3/4 the way full and then fill your muffin tins 3/4 full also.  

Bake the loaf for 1 hour and the mini muffins for 15 minutes.  You could also make regular muffins, but I haven't yet.  
These are the best.  They are the perfect size to pop right into your mouth & perfect to pop in the lunch box!