Banana Bread

This recipe has been a favorite in my family for as long as I can remember. Nothing tastes as good as some fresh banana bread on a Saturday or Sunday morning. Personally, I like this plain, but you can add butter to it or even cream cheese for some additional flavor.

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
4 Tbsp. sour cream
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 medium, extremely ripe, bananas)

Directions
1. Grease 9 x 5 in. loaf pan or muffin pan (you can make muffins too) and heat oven to 350
2.  Beat together butter and sugar
3. Add eggs; mix well
4. Add sour cream, flour, baking soda, vanilla, and bananas. Mix well. 
5. Pour into prepared loaf pan or muffin cups
6. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes (in loaf pan) or 25 minutes (in muffin pan) or until toothpick comes out clean

Emily's Thoughts

The perfect bananas for this recipe

If you like chocolate chips in your banana bread, you can also add 1 cup of chocolate chips to the mix before baking. Also, a tip on the bananas, you can use fresh mashed up bananas, but personally I prefer to use bananas that have gotten too ripe for me to eat. If a couple bananas start to look bad, I usually let them ripen until they're almost completely black. That's when they're perfect for this recipe. If you don't feel like making banana bread when your bananas are ripened, toss them in the freezer and pull them out (be sure to thaw them before baking) when you're ready.

Muffins instead of bread also are delicious

On the cooking time, it varies on the size of pan you use. The bigger the loaf pan, the longer you'll need. Last night I used mini loaf pans, so the bread only needed 30 minutes. And the muffins I made only needed 25 minutes. Set the timer for 25 minutes to start with and then check back. If the bread doesn't look done yet, give it a little more time.

Thanks to my mom for passing this recipe on to me!