College Food Experiments

I suppose monday nights are my nights for making food. A few friends and I have been getting together for dinners the past week for watching House M.D. (Which is the greatest show ever). Last week I made some chicken salad, which I haven't written about yet because I've been lazy. This week my two friends brought the main dish (Nummy Sandwiches) and I brought this:

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for preparing the pan
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 very ripe bananas, peeled, and mashed with a fork (about 1 cup)
• 1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces

Directions:
Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl, set aside. (No I didn't...) Whisk the eggs and vanilla together in a liquid measuring cup with a spout, set aside (No...). Lightly brush a 9 by 5 by 3-inch loaf pan with butter (I had a 8x8 pan that I sprayed with Pam. Also, Instead of using 0.5 cup of butter I might have used 0.33 cup of butter and added one of those to-go apple sauce containers). Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or with an electric hand-held mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually pour the egg mixture into the butter while mixing until incorporated. Add the bananas (the mixture will appear to be curdled, so don't worry), and remove the bowl from the mixer.
With a rubber spatula, mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the nuts and transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean (This was ~40 minutes for an 8x8). Cool the bread in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Turn the bread out of the pan and let cool completely on the rack. Wrap in plastic wrap. The banana bread is best if served the next day.

Overall: So this bread was a hit at the little House party. The roomates devoured the bread, which is cool because I still have 3 more bananas that need to be made into something delicious. The bread was moist, a few people described it as "buttery", which maybe a compliment but I cut back on the butter a little bit so maybe it was the applesauce?

Some people don't know but subsituting applesauce (normally for oil & especially in cake mixes) is healthier and doesn't taste different at all. It worked great in this recipe.