Banana Bread

The other day, Mr. Two was eating a slice of banana bread and he started singing.  He was using the tune of the Muppet show skit, "Mahna Mahna" but substituting the "mahna mahna" for "banana bread."

Now I can't get banana bread off my brain.  So, I bought some bananas and had to wait several days for them to ripen up enough to make some (ironic, since most of the time I am forced to make banana bread just because I have over-ripe bananas in my house).

I found this recipe on Becoming Betty, and wanted to try it out.  I was intrigued, especially because it has no eggs.  I thought that was odd, but I made it anyway.  Big mistake.  It was a crumbly mess.  Turns out, they left out the eggs on accident from the recipe, and then quickly corrected the post.

Sigh.  Another four days went by, waiting for bananas to ripen...

On the second try, the Becoming Betty recipe was really yummy, and I like that it uses butter instead of vegetable oil.  I will definitely be using this recipe as my new stand-by.

I've blogged about banana bread before, so if you missed it, here's the link to my post about tropical banana bread.  Another yummy alternative to the standard banana bread.

One last recipe for all of you that now are craving banana-baked goodness.  This one is from my mother-in-law's recipe collection.  My husband loves these family favorites.

Banana Bars

1/4 cup softened butter

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg, beaten

1 cup mashed ripe bananas

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 6 oz. package chocolate or butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add beaten egg and vanilla and mix well.  Stir in bananas.  Sift flour, baking powder and salt into cream mixture.  Beat well.  Mix in chips.  Spread in a greased and floured 9x13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  Let cook and cut into bars or squares.

Go bananas!  Don't forget to let the kids in on the fun.  My boys especially love peeling and smashing the bananas to help.