Just when we thought we’d seen the last of the banana bread recipes, along came another one.
Now, though, having again assumed our banana bread options had been depleted, here comes a totally new and different version.
Oak Harbor cook and longtime Forum friend Doris Lundvall shares this possibility and tells us, “For all those cooks who don’t like to cream shortening and sugar, I submit this recipe for banana bread. It is from the 1982 edition of ‘Sunset Cook Book of Favorite Recipes II.’
“I have successfully reduced the sugar to 3/4 cup and decreased the salt to 1/4 teaspoon.
“To help with measuring the bananas, I found that 8 ounces of peeled bananas makes 1 cup.”
While she was at it, as an added bonus, Doris included the how-to for the following humdinger of a cranberry bread, also taken from the Sunset cookbook.
Whole-wheat banana bread
1/2cup (1 cube) butter or margarine, melted
1cup sugar
2eggs, lightly beaten
1cup each mashed ripe banana and all-purpose flour
1/2teaspoon salt
1teaspoon baking soda
1cup whole-wheat flour
1/3cup hot water
1/2cup chopped walnuts
In a large bowl, stir together butter and sugar. Mix in eggs and banana, blending until smooth.
In another bowl, stir together all-purpose flour, salt, baking soda and whole-wheat flour until thoroughly blended. Add to banana mixture alternately with hot water. Stir in nuts.
Spoon batter into a greased 5-by-9-inch loaf pan. Bake at 325 degrees 1 hour and 10 minutes or until bread begins to pull away from sides of pan and a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and let cool completely.
Makes 1 loaf.
Cranberry tea bread
3/4cup (11/2 cubes) butter or margarine, softened
11/2cups brown sugar
4eggs
3cups all-purpose flour
2teaspoons each baking powder, baking soda and ground cinnamon
1/2teaspoon ground cloves
1can (1 pound) whole-berry cranberry sauce
2/3cup each golden raisins and chopped walnuts
In a large bowl, beat butter or margarine and sugar until creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
In another bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves; add to butter mixture and stir until well blended. Mix in cranberry sauce, raisins and nuts.
Spoon batter into 2 greased and flour-dusted 5-by-9-inch loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Let cool in pans for 10 minutes, then turn out onto racks to cool completely.
To store, wrap airtight and refrigerate for up to a week. Freeze for longer storage.
Makes 2 loaves.
The next Forum will appear in Monday’s Time Out section.
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