The first time I ever made banana bread, it was a colossal failure. I tried again—no better. My aunt Eileen lives next door to my parents, and growing up I saw her almost daily. She brought treats over to us all the time, but her banana bread—perfectly wrapped in tinfoil—was always one of my favorites. So, when I called Eileen for the recipe, I was absolutely sure that it would be the Peterson family banana bread to be passed down for generations. As I pulled my dark brown, unrisen, slightly concave, gelatinous mess out of the oven, I thought to myself, “I must give up baking forever because if I can’t bake this recipe, I am doomed.”
Turns out, using 1 ¼ cups of flour works a heck of a lot better than ¼ cup. I don’t know if it was a typing problem as I recorded the recipe or if being in the drumline damaged my hearing more than I realized, but I swear on my life that I confirmed each and every measurement on the phone with Eileen. Needless to say, my loaves are now far less gelatinous (seriously, that should never ever ever be a word that describes bread. Yuck city).
This isn’t the tall, domed banana bread that I see so often at bakeries. It’s short and dense, with a moist crumb and speckled with dark banana bits. It’s everything you want from a basic banana bread and it’s the perfect use for those nanners that are past their prime. It’s what I grew up eating by the sliver, at the kitchen island, and usually for dessert instead of breakfast.
I’ll always say that Eileen bakes this the best. Truthfully, out of all the recipes I’ve ever tried, banana bread has been the hardest for me to get right. I think it’s an auntie thing, and I’ll really get the hang of it when Carter has some kiddos running around. But for now, I’ll keep practicing, and wrapping the loaves in tinfoil, and cutting little slices to eat with a glass of milk before crawling into bed.
aunt eileen’s banana bread
1 cup sugar
1 stick salted butter, softened
2 eggs
3-4 very ripe mashed bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
a pinch of salt
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
- Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides as needed. Add the bananas and the vanilla. It’s okay if it looks a little gross at this point, it won’t last long!
- Mix in the flour, baking soda and salt until well combined.
- Pour the batter into your pan and bake 40-45 minutes, until a deep golden brown. The sides will start to pull away from the pans, a tester should come out clean (or with a few moist crumbs) and the top should spring back a bit when touched lightly.
