I love a good banana bread, but when I was a child, whenever there were overripe bananas around my mother would usually use them to make banana fritters. That’s because she didn’t have a good oven. My mother had a oven contraption that she’d put on top of her oil stove, but it was unreliable and difficult to control the temperature. When she really wanted to bake, especially around the holidays, she’d head over to my grandmother’s house to use her Dover wood burning stove! Today, baking couldn’t be easier.
A few of you have been asking me to share my recipe for banana bread. I think any good Caribbean cook should know how to make a good one. But not all banana breads are created equal! In my book, banana bread has to be moist and full of banana flavour. I’ve been making this recipe for years and, to me, it tastes as good the next day as it does straight out of the oven. This recipe calls for a lot of bananas…and the more overripe the better!
The trick to making my recipe perfectly every time is to always mash enough bananas to equal 2 cups. That way it doesn’t matter how many bananas you use as long, as it’s enough to fill this measurement. What you’ll get in return is a super-moist sweet bread that’s full of banana flavour. I like to add a handful of raisins to mine, but that’s optional!
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp ground nutmeg
½ cup soft butter
¾ cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
4-5 overripe large bananas (2 cups mashed)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup raisins (optional)
Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
1. Place flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg in a mixing bowl; stir and set aside
2. Beat butter and sugar together until fluffy; stir in eggs and vanilla
3. Mash bananas smooth to equal 2 cups; mix into wet ingredients
4. Fold banana mixture (and raisins, if using) into dry ingredients until blended; do not over mix
5. Pour batter into a greased 4½-x 8-inch or 5 x 9-inch loaf pan
6. Place pan in oven and bake for about 1 hour or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean
Note: If you use a larger loaf pan reduce the baking time
