The Best Banana Bread Recipe

That's the claim on the this recipe. That's what sucked me in. Once I read it, I knew I needed to try this right away to see if the claim was true or not. I'm glad to report..I think it's pretty damn close!

So, how did I find this recipe? I became obsessed with the idea of brownies a couple weeks ago. To me, they're a perfect treat to bake. You can cut them small, there's a big hit of chocolate, and you're satisfied without eating a 5000 calorie cupcake drenched in frosting. So, I was on a baking kick and perusing the Epicurious blog (the blog from the peeps at Bon Appetit). One post caught my eye...Aunt Holly's Banana Bread. I opened it and the author of the blog claimed it was the absolute best he'd ever had. I love me some banana bread..especially because I can't stand when the bananas in the fruit bowl get one tiny brown spot..so if they get weird, they're popped in the freezer for later use. Unfortunately...or maybe fortunately for my work peeps...my freezer had way too many nanners! So..this recipe was up to get tested!

One thing I loved...a nice batter without a lot of ingredients. I feel like most banana bread recipes have buttermilk, lots of oil etc...this one had none of it!

Fresh out of the oven...this smelled sooooooo good!

Since Mr. Allan was away on business on this particular day...the bread got sliced up for the work people...

The original recipe suggest some chocolate chips or maybe some nuts..I had both on hand...so a handful of chocolate chips and some leftover walnuts made their way in!

So...here we go...the Best Banana Bread..also known as Aunt Holly's Banana Bread!

Aunt Holly's Banana Bread

(from epicurious.com)

3 to 4 ripe bananas
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar*
1 1/2 cups flour*
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda
Chocolate chips (as many as you want!)




Preheat oven to 350. In a bowl mash bananas with a fork. Add in all ingredients but eggs and chocolate chips. Stir well. Add in beaten egg. Add in chocolate chips and nuts if desired.

Bake for 50-55 minutes.

* I took some advice from some reviews that were on epicurious. One was to cut down on the sugar. Some described it as too much and the sugar masked the banana taste. I used 1/2 cup of sugar.

* I also used a mix of whole wheat and white flour. I used 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup of all purpose flour. I didn't go all the way whole wheat, because whole wheat flour has a little bit of a mealy texture and I was unsure how it'd affect the bread.

I brought the tray of banana bread to work..I set it out near our coffeemaker at 8:45 and it was gone by 9:15. Rave reviews! In fact...I'm saving 2 pieces for Mr. Allan to have when he comes home from a business trip...but they're calling my name right now!!! We'll see if they make it! This was moist, delicious and definitely a keeper!

Enjoy!