My great aunt Irene made the best banana bread ever. Unfortunately she passed away before I got her recipe. For years now I have been trying to reproduce it. After several years of variations this one is very close.  I make several loaves at a time and freeze it.  Its great to take camping or to family gatherings.

Tip: When bananas start to go brown, place them in the freezer then take them out about an hour  before you start making your bread

Ingredients
¾ cup of dark brown sugar
¾ cup of granulated sugar
2 eggs
½ cup butter
½ cup buttermilk
2 ½ cup all purpose flour
2 cups of very ripe bananna, mashed
1 cup (8oz) sour cream
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1tsp. Baking soda
1 ½ cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Instructions
1. Cream together eggs, butter and sugars until smooth and creamy

2. Add buttermilk, vanilla, cinnamon & sour cream
3. Mix until smooth
4. Add bananas & mix (will not be smooth)
5. Add salt, baking soda & flour
6. Mix well
7. Mix in blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray one large (9×5) loaf pan with non-stick spray, & pour in batter

Fill a small oven safe bowl or pot with water and place it in the oven alongside the filled loaf pan

Bake for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out slightly wet but not gooey

Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 5 minutes

Turn out onto a cooling rack for 15 minutes

Wrap tightly in plastic wrap to retain moisture

Freezes very well!

• 1 egg
• 1 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
• 1 cups skim milk
• 1 large banana, very ripe, mashed*
• 1/8 cup sugar
• 1/8 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp apple pie spice
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

* When bananas are going bad, instead of throwing them out put them in the freezer.  Don’t do anything to them, just straight in the freezer.  When you need bananas to make banana bread or banana pecan pancakes, just pop how many you need out of the freezer, let thaw on the counter for about 20 minutes, then slice down the skin and peel it off.  They will be mushy and ready for your recipe! Oh, they turn BLACK inside the freezer, that is okay!

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients together until just combined.  There will be a few lumps in the batter, that’s okay!

1. Heat a pan or griddle and coat it with butter
2. Ladle the pancake batter onto the griddle into about 6″ circles                                                                                                                                                                        
3. Cook until the edges of the pancake look slightly dry and there are dryish bubbles on top of the pancake (like this).  Be careful not to have the pan too hot and not to overcook
4. Flip the pancakes and cook an additional minute or so
5. If you are working in batches, move the cooked pancakes to a sheet pan in a 200 degree oven to hold while you finish
6. Serve with maple syrup and bacon!