How to Make My Favorite Homemade Recipe for Banana Bread
Kerry Kadel | Editor-in-Chief
It’s finally that time of year to bring out the sweatpants, fuzzy socks, sweaters and pumpkin-flavored goods! I thrive in the autumn season, wearing darker colors, watching the fall rom-coms and Halloween movies, and making a playlist of songs that make me think of October. However, my favorite thing to do is make homemade goods for my friends and family, and this fall bake is my favorite to make when the leaves begin to change and the weather dips down into chill temperatures.
Banana bread is an easy, versatile baked good that anyone can make with groceries that can be found in your kitchen, and if you don’t own these common ingredients, kindly ask your roommates to share and promise them a piece of the final product!
For this school year, I’ve been trying to avoid gluten as often as I can in my meals, and if I do eat snacks or small meals that include gluten, to watch how much I’m eating. So, the first recipe I’ll list that I follow is gluten free, but don’t worry, I will add a recipe from another site using normal baking flour.
“The Best Ever Super Moist Gluten Free Banana Bread”
from Gimme Delicious, uploaded on Dec. 14, 2014
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 50
Ingredients:
- 4-5 ripe bananas
- 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Flour
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup butter (I assume unsalted), stick, softened
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- OPTIONAL: ½ or 1 cup chocolate chips; crushed almonds, M&Ms, pecans, any sweet addition of your choice!
Putting it all together:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
- Grease/butter a bread baking pan–either 9×5 or 8×4
- In one large bowl, combine your gluten free flour, baking soda and powder, and salt
- In a separate bowl, mash your bananas with a fork until creamy and no big chunks remain. This will give you a work out if you’ve skipped arm day! Next, mix in sugar and butter before stirring in the eggs, milk, and vanilla extract until all ingredients have blended. You can add the chocolate chips to the banana mixture before adding it into the dry bowl ingredients. Stir to moisten and mix before pouring the batter into your bread pan.
- Important Note: If you are making the bread with a 9×4 pan, bake for 50-55 minutes. If you are using an 8×4 pan, bake for 1 hour and 5 minutes.
Enjoy your gluten free banana bread!
“Easy Banana Bread Recipe”
from A Latte Food
Important Note: This recipe calls for two bread pans, but this can be solved by baking one baked good at a time
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
- 3-4 ripe bananas
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- OPTIONAL: ½ or 1 cup chocolate chips; crushed almonds, M&Ms, pecans, any sweet addition of your choice!
Putting it all together:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
- Grease/butter preferred bread pan
- In one bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until there are no lumps or chunks left (unless you like it like this, it’s a preference!)
- In a separate bowl, use a hand mixer or standing mixer to cream butter and sugar; since this article is reaching the audience of primarily college students, I have gotten great arm workouts by stirring by hand with a fork, however if you are lucky enough to have a roommate that owns either a hand or standing mixer, I’m jealous.
- Add the eggs into the butter and sugar mixture, blend well
- Add in flour, baking soda and salt, mix until well combined
- Finally, add in the mashed bananas and vanilla extract, mix until bananas have been incorporated into the batter
- This recipe differs from ordinary recipes I used when I wasn’t gluten free, so stick with what was said in the gluten free recipe about your pan size and how long to cook. Remember: 9×4 pans cook for 55-60 minutes, and 8×4 cook for 1 hour and 5 minutes.
Enjoy your banana bread!
I hope for those of you who follow this recipe that you learned a new skill or a new recipe to try and make often–practice makes perfect! I always enjoy making my banana bread from scratch, there’s something cathartic to it, it feels like I’m piecing together a puzzle and the result is the success of taking the first bite of my creation!
I hope my favorite fall recipe is added into your autumn/fall routine or cozy weekends for a small meal in the morning, or a sweet snack you’re craving.
If you want more recipes, check out this article I wrote on how I make my Peanut Butter-Banana Protein Cookies!