Boombastic banana bread

I often find myself baking at 10pm. Dinner goes as planned; some protein, veggies, and I'm feeling healthy and pretty satisfied. But around 9pm, my sweet tooth sends me into the kitchen searching for a little something.. I find nothing. I give up, only to return 45 minutes later, but there are still no goodies in the pantry.

At that point my imagination kicks in as I take stock of the inventory. Chocolate chips, apples, raspberries, a tiny amount of ice cream, granola and nuts are assembled into a giant chocolate chip cookie; chocolate dipped raspberries; an apple crisp and ice cream; chocolate and almond bark... are all among the creations that are great to devour at 10:45 with limited ingredients. When I'm really desperate and out of groceries, I melt chocolate and pour it over popcorn.

Two nights ago it was bananas. 4 very black, over-ripe bananas. I always get excited at the first signs of an aging banana. The freckles and bruises that mean I'm just days away from being forced to bake something delicious. So I had to make banana bread before a fruit-fly family flew home from wintering in florida and moved in on my bunch.

I looked around in some cookbooks and online, and this was the final product, a combination of a few recipes, and quantities that sounded right. It was the most amazing banana bread of all time. I'm sharing it, because what's worse than a great recipe hoarder. Not much. A great idea to make in smaller loaf pans and give as gifts for the holiday season, and in my opinion a great hostess gift (who wouldn't want a moist and delicious banana bread?). I made 6 large loaves and gave them to friends & family.

Please note that I put “1/2 teaspoon of vanilla” in the recipe, but I only used 1/4 teaspoon because I was using pure bourbon vanilla from Madagascar, and it's some very concentrated stuff. I really recommend the stuff for baking, but you need to be careful to adjust the amounts accordingly. Good luck!

Banana Bread Recipe