Banana Bread

I have been searching for something lately to take the edge off my sugar and carb cravings in the morning. If I was like my slender cajun cousins, whose father led the way,  eating cereal and ice cream in a large salad bowl while remaining achingly thin, I would begin the day with croissants and doughnuts, or perhaps one of the new pastries, a cronut, a diabolical doughnut made from  fried croissant dough. I could not in good conscience accompany my A.M greek yogurt and fruit with such an indulgence, and since it would immediately go to my posterior, I came up with “Plan B.”

Banana bread came to mind. I grew up enjoying my mother’s banana bread, made in a dark tin loaf pan but with half the sugar of the recipe (my mom didn’t believe in sugar, or too much of it at least). It was good, but not great (sorry, Mom!). My next choice was the Starbucks banana bread recipe I had copied and tucked in my recipe binder. For some reason the coffee behemoth oddly decided to print the recipe for their banana bread online for a brief while. The recipe makes an astonishingly good loaf of banana bread and is even loved by avowed banana bread haters. So, instead of a cronut, I enjoy a modest slice of this bread with my breakfast, content that I am eating bread and cake, but with fruit and nut goodness. My only secret? Not using overly ripe bananas, because I simply don’t like overly ripe bananas in smell or taste. THis is a quick two-bowl recipe, and I did cut the sugar from the original recipe. Mom, you are always right.

Sort-Of Starbucks Banana Bread

2 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup canola oil

2 tbsp buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2-3 bananas mashed with a potato masher

1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325 deg.

Mix together dry ingredients; blend egg, oil, sugar, and oil until combined. Add dry ingredients; mix well and fold in mashed bananas

and 3/4 cup walnuts, reserving 1/4 cup for topping. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan (parchment paper/cooking spray) and bake for

one hour. Remove from pan and let cool to room temperature before serving.

You Can’t Always Get What You Want…But You Can Get What You Need