Best Ever Banana Bread...In My Humble Opinion

{Pardon my poor photography skills. This picture doesn't do it justice.}

Looking back on my childhood, one of the things I most looked forward to my mom making was banana bread. This is probably news to my mom, but it really was one of my favorite treats. A few years ago, while visiting my sister, she made a loaf using a recipe someone had passed on to her. It was everything banana bread should be: golden brown on top, moist - even in the very center, and it contained walnuts (more about the walnuts later). I haven't used a single recipe since then and don't plan on giving this one up anytime soon.

My husband buys copious amounts of bananas, but here's the catch: he only eats them when they are green. And they only stay green for about 10 minutes after he gets home from the grocery store. Adeline eats a banana each morning, but I don't particularly care for bananas in the raw. It's a texture thing, I think. So given all of that, we often have 2-4 rapidly ripening bananas on hand at the end of the week. It's the perfect excuse to make this recipe.

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter (unsalted) at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup mashed, very ripe bananas (this is usually about 2 bananas)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9x5x3 loaf pan. In electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat to incorporate. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and continue to mix until just combined. Add the sour cream, bananas, and vanilla and mix to combine. Stir in the nuts. Pour into pan. Bake 1 hour and 10 minutes.

I usually insert a meat thermometer in the middle and pull it out to check for doneness. If it comes out completely clean, you probably overdid it. If it comes out with lots of runny batter, it probably isn't done. If it comes out with some batter on the end that looks thick and tacky, it is probably at the perfect state of doneness. Once you take the bread out of the oven, the middle will continue to cook and in the end you will be left with perfectly moist bread. Run a knife along the edges of the pan and then let it cool for about 10 minutes. After about 10 minutes, turn the bread out onto a cooling rack and allow it to finish cooling. Or eat a warm slice immediately. Your choice!

A couple notes to add real quick:

• I find that when baking, baking times vary greatly from oven to oven. As a rule of thumb, I always set my timer for several minutes shy of the suggested baking time just to be sure things don't burn. It is easy to add time, but you can't un-burn a cookie or a loaf of bread. Even though your oven is set to 350°, your internal oven temperature may actually be several degrees warmer or cooler. The type of baking pan you use can also impact baking time as well. And of course, you could always make muffins or mini loaves with this recipe. You will just need to adjust the baking time.
• I know sour cream sounds weird, but you don't taste it once it is incorporated and I think it is the key to keeping this bread moist (in place of oil). If you want to go for a lighter option, you can use light sour cream (I have never noticed any difference in taste), or you could also substitute plain Greek yogurt. I haven't tried the yogurt myself, but I think it would be fine.
• Because I normally have more than 2 overripe bananas on hand, I typically make a double recipe and freeze one or both loaves for later use. Once a loaf is cool, wrap it in plastic wrap and then tin foil and it is ready to freeze. I don't know how long they will last in the freezer, but probably a couple of months at least.
• And finally, let's talk about the walnuts. To me, banana bread and walnuts go together like Ross and Rachel. Like Mork and Mindy. Like Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy. They are just meant to be. I know not everyone agrees with me though. So feel free to leave the walnuts out, or you can substitute in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips instead. Your kids will thank me for that one.

Enjoy! And I hope this is the first of many recipes that I get to share with you all.