Banana Bread

I call this is the kind of banana bread you make when you have an extreme number of bananas to eat, all speckledy and starches converted to sugars and whatnot. All of these bananas give amazing banana flavor to the bread, too.

There's a crumble topping too! Butter and brown sugar and a bit of flour and lots of aromatic cinnamon. My favorite bits are the pockets of banana bits that didn't get fully mashed up! So delicious.

You could of course add chocolate chips, or walnuts, or pecans, or all three! With or without the crumble topping, it's amazing. The huge amount of bananas (4 per loaf) keep the bread moist and lend a ton of flavor.

I also discovered that a smear of peanut butter, drizzle of honey, and sprinkle of cinnamon totally elevate it to something even more extraordinary, if possible. Desserty, filling, sweet, nutty, and smooth.

And if you don't have 4 overly ripe bananas at once, just peel and freeze as many as you do have. Then, thaw them in the microwave for a minute or two before mashing.

They also make excellent one-ingredient ice cream!

But back to the bread...here's the recipe! File it away for when the freezer starts screaming for ethanol-induced ripe-banana mercy.

Banana Bread
Yield: 1 loaf

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup canola oil

• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter

Method: 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter and flour a loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and oil. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top.
3. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of flour and the cinnamon. Cut in the butter or mash it in with your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
4. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a tester inserted into center of loaf comes out clean.

Adapted from Leftovers for Lunch.