Banana Nut Loaf
Unusually good bread with cake-like texture
1 mashed banana
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup cooking oil
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
(or, for an excellent variant, 1 1/8 cup flour and 3/8 cup cornmeal)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon grated lemon peel (or 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice) (or both, if you like lemon)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
In mixing bowl, beat mashed banana, sugar, and egg together. Add oil; mix well. Stir together flour, cinnamon, salt, soda, nutmeg, baking powder, and lemon (peel or juice or both). Stir into banana mixture. Fold in nuts. Pour into a greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Bake at 325° until done, 60-65 minutes. Check with toothpick -- it shouldn't be gooey when it slides out.
Now, the original recipe (which was actually for zucchini bread) says this: Cool in pan for 10 minutes; remove from pan. Cool loaf thoroughly. Wrap and store loaf overnight before slicing.
However, I say 'bah, humbug!' to that! I get that loaf out of the pan just as fast as possible, using a metal spatula to go carefully around the edges, and pushing the loaf gently toward the middle of the pan until I'm sure it's not stuck to the bottom... remove onto a cutting board... grab the bread knife... and carefully cut myself a piping, steaming hot slice of bread, which I then slather with butter.
(Be sure to saw with the bread knife, and not push, so as to cut rather than squish.) How in the world could anybody be such a killjoy as to make people wait until a fresh-made nut loaf is cold before they let anyone eat it???! Booo, hissss...
"Eat it while it's hot!" That's my motto.
