VACATION!!!! The word that always brings a smile to my face. When you add the idea of it being a full week, the smile widens. I was lucky enough to spend a week’s vacation not too long ago and the week before the vacation, I dedicated myself to use up as much of the perishable items as I could.

First were the bananas. They were getting pretty spotted and would not last the week, let alone the vacation week. While I am not a baker (I will continue to say that even though a number of my posts are baking related), I decided that banana bread would do the trick. Looking in the cupboard, I had a partial package of dried cherries and mini-chocolate chips that I decided to add.

I thought it was very good. There is a lot of flavors that mix here, but I think they worked.

I chopped up the cherries and ended up with about 3/4 cup. Likewise for the chips.

Mashed bananas, cherries and chips.

The dry ingredients.

Creaming up the butter and sugar.

All together in the pan.

Beautiful!

Banana Bread

Cook Time: 1 hr 10 min | Makes: 1 loaf | Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 ripe bananas
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.

Cream the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Mix in the milk and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove bread from pan, invert onto rack and cool completely before slicing.

Spread slices with honey or serve with ice cream.

Source: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/banana-bread-recipe/index.html

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