It's Bananas!

I'm not quite sure why, but lately I've been in the mood for baking. Nothing fancy just something to make the house smell good and our tummies happy. One of my favorite things to bake is banana bread. I got my recipe from a somewhat surprising source...Rachel Zoe. Obviously she's awesome but I never expected to get recipes from her.

Here's the recipe:
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed bananas (3 medium over ripe)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk-chocolate or semi-sweet chips
1/2 cup walnuts, peanuts or pecans (optional)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom only of loaf pan, 9X5X3 inches with shortening.

2. Beat 1/2 cup shortening and the sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy.

That's my idea of fluffy. It seems to work.

Next, beat in eggs and bananas until smooth.

This is the big step - beat in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt just until mixed.


During this step my hand mixer starts to protest a little but I'm thinking if you used a stand mixer (like a KitchenAid) you probably wouldn't experience that. It still works fine with the hand mixer though, I just wanted to warn you. :)

Stir in chips and nuts (optional).

I don't add the entire 1 cup of chocolate chips. I just sprinkle some in until I think it's enough. We prefer a little less chips in our bread.

Pour into loaf pan.

Another tiny little variation - the recipe says to rub shortening on the bottom of the pan but I just use cooking spray. It's always worked just as well and it's a lot cleaner.

3. Bake 1 hour or 1 hour and 10 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely, for 1 hour.

I love this bread. It makes your house smell wonderful while it's baking too! I also highly recommend eating a little bit of the dough...it's pretty delicious too!

Anyone else been in a baking mood lately? Share some recipes with me! The holidays are coming up and I'd love to have something new to bake up!

*Recipe courtesy of Rachel Zoe