According to Katie, a good banana bread recipe is something you should hang on to for a very long time. It's the sort of thing that tastes good (sometimes even better) a day or two after you make it. Wrap it up to give to a friend (it travels well) or keep it for yourself to eat for breakfast, as a snack, or for dessert. This one is moist, sweet, and tender. It's made with walnuts, which you can easily leave out or replace with chocolate chips. Whatever you do when you make this bread, be sure to use ripe bananas and not to mix the batter too vigorously. That will make all the difference. * I made a few modifications: I used plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream; swapped the walnuts with pecans; used half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat pastry flour; and I added a handful of dark chocolate chips.
Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray
4 medium-size ripe bananas (they should be speckled with little brown dots)
2 eggs
⅓ cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
⅓ cup canola oil
¼ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1⅓ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Use nonstick cooking spray to generously grease the inside of a loaf pan.
Peel the bananas and break them up into a few pieces as you add them to a large bowl. Use an electric mixer to beat them into a gooey, thick mixture. It's okay if it's a little lumpy.
Add the eggs and beat until blended, about 30 seconds. Add the brown sugar, sugar, canola oil, sour cream, and vanilla and beat until blended and smooth, another 30 seconds or so.
Put the flour, baking soda, and salt into a separate medium bowl. Use a fork to stir everything together. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and beat just until blended and you no longer see little streaks of flour. Don't mix it too much the bread will be tough. Stir in the walnuts with a rubber spatula, just until combined.
Pour the batter into the bread pan, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to get every last bit.
Bake until the bread is firm when you touch it lightly and your finger doesn't leave an indent. You can double-check for doneness by inserting a toothpick in the center. It's done when you don't see any wet batter sticking to it. This will take about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and leave the bread to cool on the counter for 20 minutes. Run a little knife around the edges of the pan and invert the bread on the counter to dislodge it. Set it upright and leave it to cool another 30 minutes before cutting.
Notes
KEY EQUIPMENT: loaf pan that's roughly 8-1/2 x 4-1/2 inches, large bowl, electric mixer, medium bowl, rubber spatula
Recipe by Lizs Healthy Table at https://www.lizshealthytable.com/2019/04/24/golden-banana-bread-with-dark-chocolate-chips/