Something about cold weather inspires baking and cooking and all that housewarming jazz. Found this recipe off some website that I can’t remember anymore because I found a gajillion versions just searching for a simple banana bread recipe. This is simple. I like simplicity and minimal effort. Speaks to the lazy in me. I changed some of the original recipe based on what ingredients I had on hand and personal preferences.

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (you don’t need to measure, it’s about 3 bananas)
• 1/2 cup 1% milk (recipe called for whole)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar (maybe it was closer to 1/2 a cup - didn’t measure; recipe called for 1 cup of sugar)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup toasted walnut pieces (original recipe called for pecans)
• 1 tsp cinnamon (recipe didn’t call for this, but I love cinnamon)

Start with the bananas, mush them up in a bowl. After that, put in everything else. It might be easier to mix together the liquids first, but really, it all just gets combined in the end so there’s no need to follow any order. I added the toasted nuts last. If you’re adding the stick of butter straight out of the fridge, zap it for 15 to 20 secs in the microwave to soften it.
Butter a 9 1/4 x 5 x 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Bake in a 350 F preheated oven for about an hour or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Let it cool for 5 minutes.
Snarf.

Or be like me and cut an inch-thick slice and pretend like you’re only going to have half. Take a bite and greedily reach for the other half because it’s that good. Not too sweet, not too anything. Just right. A good dense moist bread. Goes great with coffee. Everything goes great with coffee for me.