Not sure why, but the thought of throwing away over-ripe bananas drives me nuts.  Instead, I’ll spend a few bucks to save four $0.35 bananas – not logical, but makes for a treat everyone enjoys.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup (1stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 4 over-ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl – set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar on medium speed for about 2 minutes.  Add the eggs, beating well after each one, add the bananas and beat for 1 minute.
4. Pour the banana / butter mixture into flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined – do not overmix.  Pour batter into a lightly grease 9×5 inch loaf pan and sprinkle walnuts over the top (if using walnuts).
5. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out with just a few moist crumbs.  Remove the banana bread from the oven and let  cool in pan for 15 minutes, then unmold and cool completely on a wire rack.

Notes: I like chunks of banana in my banana bread so I typically squeeze and knead the bananas while they’re still in the peel.  By the time I’m done with this fun task, all I need to do is remove the peels and add the ‘mashed’ bananas to the batter.