THE BEST BANANA BREAD

Loretta made the absolute best banana bread ever the other day!

After years of struggling to find the best combination of ingredients, she finally popped one out of the oven that had everything…most importantly, it was moist!

My wife hates to cook. We have a little sign in the kitchen that says, “I can cook…I just don’t” I do all the cooking in our little household, although recently I have cajoled her into doing one dinner per week, and, so far, she’s done a great job…with a little guidance from yours truly.

This Banana Bread recipe is lacking one thing that most others have, and that’s nuts. We just prefer to leave them out. I will included nuts as an option below.

Ingredients:

The bread:

• 1 large egg

• 1/2 cup light brown sugar

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

• 1/4 cup sour cream

• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas, about 2 large bananas

• 1 cup flour

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 cup crushed walnuts or more to taste

• Pinch of salt

For the Cream Cheese Filling:

• 1 large egg

• 4 ounces our cream, softened

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

• 3 tbsp flour

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard loaf pan with a piece of parchment paper cut large enough to hang over the sides. Spray with cooking spray.

• For the bread part: In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer (or a large mixing bowl if using a hand mixer), add the egg, sugars, oil, sour cream, vanilla and mix with the paddle to combine for about 1 minutes scraping down the sides. Add the bananas to incorporate.

• Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, crushed nuts if using), and salt and mix on low for 2-3 minutes, scraping down the sides and mixing a bit more. Add about half of the mixture to the loaf pan.

• For the filling: In a large bowl, add all the filling ingredients and whisk to combine or use a hand mixer.

• Carefully pour the filling into the loaf pan down the middle of the batter, leaving a 1 inch border around the edge. Pour in the remainder of the batter and smooth with a rubber spatula.

• Bake for about 40-50 minutes, checking with a tooth pick at 40 minutes, it should come out dry.

• Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. Lift out of the pan using the excess parchment paper and place on the rack to finish cooling.

• Slice and serve with butter.