Sarah Lynn's Banana Nut Loaf

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.