Banana Bread

I just adore banana bread and think there's nothing like making it yourself. I found this recipe when I was in graduate school and was going over to a friend's for brunch. I want to say I found it on cakerecipe.com but I can't remember. I love this recipe because it only has seven ingredients, all wholesome. It's oh so simple and oh so tasty.

Makes 1 loaf
Time: 15 minutes for prep, 60 minutes for baking

Ingredients
-2 cups all-purpose flour
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1/2 cup butter
-3/4 cup brown sugar
-2 eggs, beaten
-2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas (more or less 3 bananas)

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

I've noticed that no matter how long I bake banana bread the dead center always comes out gooey while the ends of the bread are perfect. In the past, I've let it go longer but then the ends get dry. So at 60 minutes today, I took the bread out so that it could continue to cook in it's own heat outside of the oven. I had perfect results.

The banana bread was soft and moist. So much better than what you could buy at the store.