Peanut Butter & Banana Bread

My friend Liza has this foolproof recipe for banana bread.  I asked her for, and misplaced, the recipe four or five times before I finally just included it in my family’s recipe collection.  Whenever I see overripe bananas I think of that bread.  Whenever I think about that bread, I remember sitting in Liza’s room during undergrad, eating most of the loaf and talking about guys philosophy.

The original recipe is pretty darn seductive.  I wanted to make it again the other day, but I only had two bananas.  So I added some peanut butter.  And the taste?

Awwwwwwww yeah.  It’s business time.

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 2 bananas, mushed into a paste
• 1/3 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 small handful crushed walnuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Combine the flour, salt, and baking soda well in a small bowl.  Combine all of the other ingredients in a large bowl.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet (carefully!) and mix until just combined–don’t overstir or the batter will become stiff.  Mix in the walnuts now if you’re using them.  Grease a loaf pan (or get sassy with some Pam and parchment paper) and bake on the middle rack for 1 hour or until a knife in the middle comes out without wet batter.  Transfer as soon as possible from the loaf pan to a cooling rack.  It tastes best the next day.

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