I’m starting to share with you some of the recipes from my self-published cookbook which was really a labour of love. I assembled our family recipes for my mother and I’m making them available on Urbanmommies moving forward. I made the banana bread from my cookbook on the first instalment of my new Facebook Live feature “Let’s Be Honest” which will be running on Mondays at 12 p.m. Pacific time. It won’t always be me cooking, it’s just a chance to chat about what’s been going on while I do things in my mom life.
Shooting this Facebook live was a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to doing more of them. In this video, I substituted the sour cream for yogurt as an experiment. As you watch, you’ll notice I cook by taste, rarely measuring and I don’t believe in sifting flour except when it’s absolutely necessary. Banana bread isn’t something that’s crucial for sifting but pasta and gnocchi are things where you will want to sift things so that it’s just right. My other tip is to freeze ripe bananas for banana bread – just jot down the date and how many bananas are in the bag.
Banana Bread Tips
Freezing bananas helps reduce food waste and they are also great to pop into smoothies. Using a banana reduces the amount of ice you will need to use in a recipe and I like to throw together smoothie packs in the freezer on Sundays to make meal prep through the week even easier. Reducing food waste is something I care about deeply, but I use what I can to compost in my garden because it helps everything grow and it saves me from getting garbage off our little island. Having frozen bananas on hand makes everything so much easier – particularly banana bread.
My advice for banana bread is to consider it a vehicle to get nutrition into your child – some chocolate chips added in at the end can make that happen even faster with just a little something sweet for encouragement.
Ingredients
- 1⁄2 c. butter, at room temperature, plus more for pan
- 1 c. granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 11⁄2 c. unbleached flour 1 t. baking soda
- 1 t. salt
- 1 c. mashed very ripe bananas
- 1⁄2 c. sour cream
- 1 t. pure vanilla extract 1⁄2 c. chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a loaf pan; set aside. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, and beat to incorporate.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture, and mix until just combined. Add bananas, sour cream, and vanilla; mix to combine. Stir in chocolate chips, and pour into prepared pan.
- Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool.
- The sour cream in this recipe helps keep it moist and delicious.
