Banana Nut Bread Recipe

I really should be cleaning house right now. It needs to be done. However, I just put some banana nut bread in the oven to bake and I was inspired to post this recipe to share it. This is one of the best recipes I’ve ever tried for banana nut bread. The recipe is from a small church cookbook that was given to me by Mickey’s grandmother a few years ago. I have used this recipe and given it out SO many times. It’s fantastic!!

Banana Nut Bread

1 (8oz) block cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup (half stick) butter, softened
1 cup (about 3 medium) mashed bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup nuts, chopped

Combine the cream cheese, sugar and margarine; cream well together. Blend in bananas, eggs and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients together and then mix together well with wet ingredients. Fold in nuts. Pour into greased and floured 9x5x3″ loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. (Makes one loaf)

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NOTES:

• I added the vanilla and the salt to my recipe. The original didn’t call for those, but I like the additions.
• I typically make three small loaf pans of this bread.
• Adjust the baking time to your oven. I have had to cook one loaf for slightly more than an hour most of the time. The bread is done with a knife comes out clean.
• The nuts I like to use most often are pecans. Today I used walnuts because that’s what we had. Either are tasty in this bread.
• When baking bread, a small dish of water in the oven will help keep the crust from becoming too hard or brown. (This is a tip in the cookbook)
• Bananas that have darkened can be peeled and stored in a plastic container in the freezer until ready to use. (Another cookbook tip)