Anna Banana Bread

So my little brothers can be pretty funny guys. Real comedians, you know? The longstanding joke in the family: "Look under there!" ("Under where?") "Haha you said underwear!"

Hilarious, I know.

My mom is also pretty funny, but more so because of her quirky habits. For example, she insists on storing black bananas in the freezer with the peels in tact ("You can use them to bake us something, Anna!" she says). How she expects me to remove the frozen peels, I'll never know. This time, though, I noticed the browning bananas on the counter before she could freeze them, so I scooped them up, and decided to make banana bread. Operation Freeze-Bananas: Thwarted! (Let's play some heroic music in the background right here).

How on earth do the anecdotal stories about my insane little brothers and my quirky mom fit together, you ask? Well, when your name happens to be Anna, and this rhymes oh so well with the word banana, things sort of run their own course. Upon hearing that I was making banana bread with the rescued bananas, my youngest brother gasped, giggled, and then said, "ANNA BANANA BREAD!!! Mom, let's eat some Anna Banana Bread!" Unsurprisingly, this pun remained popular until the entire loaf was gone.

Being the good big sister that I was, I smiled and laughed every time my brothers made this joke, but when I make something with bananas in the future, I'm definitely not telling them that there's bananas in it.

Print This Recipe 

Recipe:
Adapted from The Joy of Cooking

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed very ripe banana (about 2)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

1. Preheat over to 350 F. Grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan.
2. Whisk together thoroughly flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar on high speed until lightened in color and texture, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the flour mixture until blended and the consistency of brown sugar. Gradually beat in eggs. Fold in banana and walnuts until just combined.
3. Scrape the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Bake 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool 5 to 10 minutes before unmolding to cool on a rack.