Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Favorite banana bread

This recipe is a combination of my mother's recipe and my attempts to make the bread a little less deliciously calorie-laden. The sour cream and yogurt gives the bread a faint but nice tang. The bread is dense and moist without the oily feel you get from using all butter or vegetable oil.

Jeri's Banana Bread
  • 1 cup butter, melted
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 6 eggs
  • 3 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cup light sour cream
  • 1/2 cup plain low fat yogurt
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts
  • 5-6 very ripe bananas, smooshed up (great job for kids)
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Shortening and flour** four 9x5 inch loaf pans.
  2. In a large bowl, stir together the melted butter and sugars. Add the eggs one at a time and vanilla, sour cream and yogurt - mix well. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt, stir into the butter mixture until smooth. Finally, fold in the walnuts and bananas. Divide evenly into the prepared pans.
  3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool loaf in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool. When still slightly warm, wrap in plastic wrap. Freezes really well.
** Get a dab of shortening on a paper towel and smear into every corner of the loaf pan. There should be a thin film of shortening on the entire inside of the pan. Put a palmful of flour in the pan and shake shake shake it all around, tapping the excess out. More labor-intensive than non-stick spray but it will release your cakes and breads a million times easier.

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