Banana Bread

Sara's Banana Bread in Mini Loaf Pans
If you want the best banana bread in the world, then fly to Maui, rent a car, take the road to Hana and stop at Hana Farms and buy their banana bread. It didn't survive more than a mile down the road. However, since that isn't practical for most of us, then this recipe will do in a pinch. I like the mini loaves because they are easier to bake, make for great gifts without overwhelming people with a big wad of bread, their slices fit easily in lunch boxes, and they tend to be moist through and through.
Ingredients
  • 1 stick of butter
  • 3/4 cup of sugar
  • 1/2 cup of sour cream
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp. Vanilla

  • 1 1/2 cups of flour
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • dash of salt
  • 1 cup of mashed bananas (about 2)
 
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Directions
  1. Peel the banana and squish the fruit into a cup. Mash it down. It's so satisfying. If you have two cups worth of brown bananas, then double the recipe. Lucky you.
  2. ​Mix the butter and sugar in a bowl.
  3. Add the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, and mix it some more. 
  4. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix it yet some more. .
  5. Add the bananas.
  6. For mini loaves, bake for about 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees. For medium loaves, bake for 35-40 minutes.  Just watch it, because the times here often don't represent reality in how done it gets. 
The truth about Bananas
People often say that bananas are a great source of Potassium, but that isn't really true. In fact, milk, apricots, beans, carrots, bell peppers, and sweet potatoes all have way more potassium than your standard banana. Also, bananas have a lot of sugar in them (about 17 grams of sugar and 27 grams of carbohydrates). Not the best choice for a healthy snack. Even more shocking is the reality that bananas aren't even really a fruit (well they kind of are). The banana tree is actually an herb distantly related to ginger since its stem is succulent and not woody. So, it qualifies as a fruit since it contains the seed of the plant, but commercial banana plants are sterile, and their seeds are just little specs, so technically it doesn't qualify as a fruit since it has no seeds, or does it? Either way, now you can regail people with this useless knowledge. Most people will be so annoyed at this conversation piece that they will offer you more bread to keep you quiet. If this gets you one more slice of bread, then this knowledge has served its purpose.