RECIPE: Emilie's BEST Banana Bread

I am pretty much in love with banana bread. It's perfection. I always buy 5 bundles of bananas at a time so we have enough left over to allow them to turn brown and sweet and perfect for banana bread.

This was the very first recipe that I really made up. I made tweak after tweak to a base recipe that finally it hardly resembled the base recipe at all. You can also replace ALL of the regular flour with whole wheat pastry flour and it pretty much tastes the same.  Awesome!  And my mother declares this the very best banana bread she has ever tasted. I hope you like it too.

EMILIE'S BEST BANANA BREAD

Recipe by Emilie Ahern
Yield: 2 small loaves or 1 large loaf

1 3/4 c. flour

3/4 c. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

4-5 very ripe bananas

1/3 c. butter, softened (or margarine)

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. banana extract

2 T. milk

2 eggs

1. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fit with a paddle attachment, mix bananas until mostly smooth.

3. Add butter, vanilla, banana extract, eggs, and milk. Mix until well combined.

4. Add dry ingredients to mixer and mix until just combined (do not over-mix).

5. Spray just the bottoms of 2 small loaf pans with cooking spray. Divide batter evenly between pans.

6. Bake @ 350 for 30-40 minutes.

7. You may also choose to make one large loaf in a bread size pan. Bake @ 350 for 50-60 minutes (cover with foil if top become too brown).

8. Remove from oven and place on cooling racks. Brush tops of loaves with some additional butter while still hot.

9. Once cooled wrap tightly in plastic wrap and store for up to 3 days.