Janet's Rich Banana Bread

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I am a huge fan of anything banana.  It just might be my favorite food.  I never get sick of it.  And speaking of bananas--you must also try making brown sugar oatmeal for breakfast. Let it cool.  Add a little extra milk and then slice a banana in it.  Superb. 

But back to this recipe.  I always have bananas on hand but hate when they start to turn brown.  So sometimes we just can't eat them quick enough before they're over ripe.  So I love having some good 'go to' recipes to use those bananas.  I have a standard banana bread recipe that is good--but nothing too exciting.  So I went on the hunt for a new recipe. I was intrigued by this one because it also calls for sour cream in it.  This bread was so delicious.  I'll be using this recipe from no won. It was incredibly moist and had a rich, addicting taste.  It also had an incredible crust that was slightly crunchy but not overdone.   The middle also came out completely cooked with nothing mushy--which is sometimes an issue with banana bread. The texture was soft, and not overly dense and I think the sour cream added something pretty great to the recipe.  My kids kept coming back for more slices.  I also modified it a little and added 1 tsp of cinnamon and it added just the perfect hint of cinnamon that was necessary.  I also made a healthier version so I'll note the changes I made at the bottom.  Enjoy!

Janet's Rich Banana Bread adapted from Allrecipes

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 medium bananas, mashed (should equal 1 cup)


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, stir together the melted butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon stir into the butter mixture until smooth. Finally, fold in the sour cream, walnuts and bananas. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool loaf in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Tips: To make it healthier I did 3/4 C white and 3/4 C wheat flour.  I also substituted the 1/2 C of butter for 1/2 C applesauce.  I also substituted the sour cream for fat free sour cream.  I think it would obviously be a lot more rich without these changes.  But we still devoured it even with the healthy changes.