Banana Bread

There is something very comforting about baking your own bread and when that's a banana bread, it bumps it up a few notches. What I love the most about this is how it fills my home with this wonderful smell - the wait seems way too long. I have tried a few recipes for this over the years with small variations and finally settled on one that I want to blog about :) 

This is probably one of my most frequently made snack simply because I always have a lot of bananas at home and hate to see it go to waste. You should make sure not to make the bread if your bananas have turned black - that will make it bitter.

I love banana bread for a lot of reasons - it can be served for breakfast, or as a snack for tea/coffee, or serve it with some ice cream for dessert - the bread itself is not overly sweet. Endless possibilities are always attractive. It also reminds me of an authentic Indian sweet dish called 'appam' that's part of the Kerala cuisine. The texture is different but the tastes are pretty similar. I personally like the bread plain, but I do add walnuts sometimes for a change. 

Even if you are not into baking but do like bananas, do try this one out.

Ingredients:

banana - 4 medium sized
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
11/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Grease the bottom and sides of a loaf pan (9x5x3 inch) and set aside. In a large bowl, mash the bananas and combine butter, egg and sugar into it. Now add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon and nutmeg and mix well. Add the flour to the mixture little at a time until it is moistened - it will be lumpy. Once all the flour has been combined with the mixture, fold in the walnuts.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 60 minutes in the preheated oven. Insert a toothpick into the center and check if it comes out clean.
Cool in pan for about 10-15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely. 

bon appetit !!!