Saturday, September 11, 2010

Home Cooking: The Best Banana Bread EVER!

“Are they dead yet?”

I knew exactly what my boys were talking about when they asked this question. We had three bananas that we had been carefully watching as the skins got darker and darker. My boys know that once the bananas have turned really dark—what they refer to as ‘dead’—the pulp inside is super-sweet and that’s the best kind to make into Sue’s Banana Bread recipe.

“Yes, they’re dead,” I told them.

“Then make banana bread!” was the immediate reply. It was the end of a long day, up early, off to teach school, lots of errands run that afternoon, dinner fixed, and now at 7:30 they wanted me to make banana bread.

After some searching, Zach and I managed to find all the ingredients—why did someone hide the vanilla and baking powder in the top shelf of the snacks cabinet?—and locate the bread pan—no, that’s a cake pan. I stirred everything together, sprayed PAM on the bread pan, and used one of the bananas to finish the mixture, but before I could get the pan into the over to bake, Chan and Kent stopped me.

“What about the other two bananas?” they asked. “Can’t you make MORE banana bread?”

“I’m not sure we have enough butter or pudding to make two more batches,” I said, knowing I was too tired to put them together anyway.

“Sure we do,” Kent said, as he was off to the pantry to find the pudding boxes, Zach trailing along behind him.

“I’m tired,” I said to Chan who was still standing in the kitchen.

“We’ll help,” he said.

He came to the table where I was sitting and retrieved the mixing bowl, rinsed it out at the sink, and was ready to begin. Zach and Kent were back at this time, and Zach had already helped me make the first batter so he knew what to do. I called out measurements for a double batch and the boys put them all together.

Once the two new pans were filled, they put all three of them into the oven to bake. An hour later I thought, They will never eat all three of these loaves but before bedtime an entire loaf was already gone. By the time I got home from school they next day, loaf #2 two was gone, and last night I noticed #3 was also missing.

When I sent them to the grocery store, guess what they came home with? More pudding and bananas, and now we’re waiting on this bunch of bananas to die.
So, what’s the secret recipe for the best banana bread ever? Here you go:

1 c. mashed really, really ripe banana
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
½ t. baking power
½ t. vanilla
2 c. flour
3 T milk
½ melted margarine
3 oz. package of Instant Coconut Cream Pudding

Mix it all together, adding melted margarine and bananas last. Spray buttery PAM on a loaf pan and pour in the batter. Bake at 350∘ for 1 hour or until done. Poke the center of the bread to check, If a knife comes out clean, it’s ready. You can also use Banana pudding mix, but my boys LOVE the coconut cream the best.

I shared this recipe with the ladies in our church for a cookbook, and I’ve had many of them now tell me they use Sue’s recipe now instead of their mother’s–it’s THAT good!

2 comments:

Janice Sperry said...

i have an entire cemetary full of dead bananas in my freezer! We had chocolate chip banana muffins last night. I've been looking for another recipie for bananas. Thanks.

Pendragon Inman said...

i so want to try this. i'm not a cook but it seems easy enough? lol Guess we'll see. :) BTW, 1/2 a what of melted butter? i'm a little slow, i guess. thx