By Victoria Heerschap
Are your bananas unappealing? Don’t throw them away! When life gives you black bananas, make banana bread.
Baking can sometimes feel like chemistry class, especially at high altitudes. All of those precise weights and measurements, and there’s still no guarantee that your finished product will be anything like you expected it to be. The beauty of a quick bread is that it is so much more forgiving than most other baked goods. Even when it doesn’t rise quite right, it’s delicious!
Banana Walnut Bread
Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups flour
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
½ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 – 5 overripe bananas – peeled and mashed
¾ cup chopped walnuts
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350° and grease a large loaf pan using butter or cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. Create a well in the middle of the dry mix and set aside. In another bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, oil, vanilla until well combined, then stir in the mashed bananas. Add the wet mix into the dry mix all at once and stir until just combined. The batter should be lumpy. Fold in the walnuts and pour into the prepared loaf pan. Bake on the center rack of the oven for 50-60 minutes, checking often near the end. Test doneness by inserting a toothpick or wooden skewer into the center of the loaf. If it comes out clean, remove and let cool for 15 minutes before turning the loaf out onto a cooling rack and cooling for at least 10 additional minutes. Slice and serve warm, or cool completely and store whole until ready to serve.