Banana Bread

The first thing I ever learned to bake was banana bread from Gold Medal Flour's Alpha Bakery Children's Cookbook. This is an adapted version of their incredibly delicious and easy banana bread, which can be made into a loaf or muffins. Freezes well.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups of mashed bananas (3 large)

¾ cup of sugar

¾ cup of vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

2 teaspoons of vanilla

½ teaspoon of baking powder

½ teaspoon of salt

Optional additions:

½ cup chopped nuts

¼ cup chocolate chips

⅓ cup chopped canned pineapple, drained

¼ cup rolled oats, briefly soaked in 1 tbsp water, milk, or plant based milk to soften (1-2 mins)

1 tbsp ground flax seeds, briefly soaked in 1 tbsp water, milk, or plant based milk to soften (1-2 mins)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F and grease a loaf or muffin pan.

2. Mix wet ingredients in a large bowl: bananas, sugar, oil, and eggs

3. In a smaller bowl, mix together dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, vanilla, baking powder, salt

4. Add dry ingredient mix to wet ingredients and stir to combine until there are no more dry spots of flour, but careful not to overmix.

5. Optional: add 1/2 cup of extras, such as oats, nuts, chocolate chips, or fruit.

6. Pour into pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean; for a loaf, bake for 60-70 minutes. For muffins, bake 30-35 minutes.

7. Let cool 10 minutes before removing from pan. Let cool completely before slicing

Note:

Oats and flax seeds will pull in liquids, so they are soaked before adding to the batter to prevent them from drawing in liquids during the baking process, which helps keep the banana bread moist