Banana Bread a la Sunset Cookbook

Good ole tried and true banana bread recipe from Sunset Cookbook

This always turns out tasting moist and good, if not too exciting. It converts a lot of people who think they don't like banana bread because it is too dry or too laden with oil. I usually throw finely chopped chopped nuts in there, also.

How to wreck this recipe: In my new effort to get sugar out of food when I can, I substituted equal thirds truvia and brown sugar (that is, 1/3 C Truvia, 1/3 Brown sugar--equals l cup regular sugar). I also added dates and a big handful of chopped Macadamia nuts. I was shooting for a way to get dates into the bread for a date-loving friend, and added the macadamias on a whim because they seemed to add a tropical note.) The flavor and the crumb of the bread were compromised, I think mainly by the nuts. They are soft and rich in oils, which I think caused the too-dense crumb as well as a flavor that seemed to overpower the delicate banana. Better part of valor, do something else with dates and Macadamias, and check a cooking light/artificial sweetener recipe.

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 C flour
1 tsp each salt and soda
1 cup mashed very ripe banana (about 3 medium)
1 C sugar
l egg
1/4 c butter, melted and cooled.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a greased 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch loaf pan (I like to put baking parchment on the bottom so it comes out reliably without breaking apart.) Mash and measure banana so you are sure you have 1 cup. Stir flour, salt and soda together in a small bowl. In another, bigger bowl, combine banana and sugar. Stir well. Add egg and butter, stir again until they are incorporated. Pour the dry into the liquid  ingredients. Sprinkle nuts on the top of the flour. Stir everything just until blended. Pour into bread pan and bake for about 55 minutes, until bread begins to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick comes out clean.  Put it on a cooling rack, let it cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn onto cooling rack and cool completely before slicing. This will stay tasty in the refrigerator for a week and it freezes well.