Trouble Finding a Kick Ass Banana Bread Recipe? Try This!

For X-mas my mom suggested that I bake my dad a loaf of banana bread – his favorite. My dad is kind of a strange guy and when he gets an idea in his head it is “the best”. He has ALWAYS had me make him this recipe by Paul Prudhomme. Dad is a HUGE fan of the fat one himself and anything that Paul suggests is the gospel truth. I have never really thought that it was what I would consider a GREAT recipe. It was ok. But, it had been a few years since I had made it – so I whipped out the book and began . I remember I kept thinking to myself.. “why so much baking soda” …. “oh well, if Paul says so I guess so”. Let me tell you, my husband doesn’t have the sharpest pallet out there. He thinks just about anything that he puts in his mouth is “divine”. I have to admit this sometimes causes jealousy when he goes on and on about other peoples CRAP food…. but that is a different story for a different day. With this banana bread he said “it’s ok”…”your dad will like it”. OH NO!! I so then I tasted it…yup, too much baking soda!!!!So, by this time it was 8 o’clock on X-mas eve. Not one single grocery store open to buy more bananas . So, long story short no banana bread for dad on X-mas. A few days later when the stores were all open and the mad rush had subsided. I went and got some bananas and let them sit out to try this whole thing all over again.Paul used in his recipe melted butter, and that just never sounded right to me to begin with. So, I decided that instead of trying to fix his very broken recipe that I would go out on the hunt for a new one. I thought maybe Paula Deene would have a really good one because she loves butter and she is Southern…. but, I did not think that her recipe was all that. I tried a plethora of blog sites and nothing seemed appealing. Even tried Martha Stewarts website – NOTHING!!!! AAARRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!! I was getting so frustrated. Then one last stitch effort Emeril Lagasse, he claims to be Southern so why not!?! Well, his recipe seemed OK. I liked that he used sour cream; I put sour cream in just about everything. He also used a TON of butter…. but it seemed like he forgot the “BAM” on this one. So ok, it is a good “starter” recipe.

I added 1/2 cup of apple sauce, buttermilk, cinnamon, changed the walnuts to pecans (I’m a Texan that is how we roll) and allspice. Also, I mashed my bananas instead of pureeing them in the food processor. For items such as this I like it to feel home made as well as taste homemade. The batter tasted pretty good… and smelled much much better then Paul’s recipe. I made 2 loafs, 1 for my dad and another that I took to Grandma’s house. It was a big hit at Grandma’s even the kids liked it – and they usually don’t like anything that doesn’t involve chocolate. I myself like banana bread OK, not my favorite. This was definitely one of the better ones that I have had. All of the flavors blended together beautifully. And it had that extra little something that I was looking for. So here it is:

• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas
• ½ cup applesauce
• ½ cup sourcream
• 3 tablespoons buttermilk
• 1½ sticks unsalted butter (softened)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon allspice
• ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup pecan pieces

Lightly grease a 9 ¼” by 5 ¼” by 2 ½” loaf baking spray.

Mash the bananas, and mix with sour cream, eggs, buttermilk, applesauce, and vanilla by hand.

Sift the cake flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fixed with a whisk attachment. Add butter and mix on medium-low speed until blended, about 30 seconds. Add the banana mixture in 3 batches, scraping the sides of the bowl and mixing on medium speed between each addition. Fold in the nuts.

Pour into the loaf pan. Bake until lightly browned and bread bounces back to the touch, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes before turning out onto wire rack to cool completely.

Bake at 350° F for 30 minutes, then lower to 320° F for 30 minutes or until a knife comes clean and the bread pops back up after being pressed. Allow to cool for 15 minutes while still in the pan and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.