Bee's Banana Bread Recipe... you will want to save this!

Bee's Banana Bread Recipe-
You will want to save this!

Are you ready for a taste of Heaven??? Introducing Bee’s Banana Bread Recipe! I’ve been working on this recipe for years, tweaking it here and there. What I now have is the most delicious banana bread recipe ever! It’s moist and spongy, sweet and decadent. This bread makes a delicious dessert and an even tastier breakfast. When this bread is baking, your entire house will be filled with the aromas that dreams are made of. Sometimes, I stand over the oven and just bathe in those warm cinnamon notes.


This recipe is literally fail-proof. I’ve “messed it up” on occasion and it still comes out delicious every time. One time, I completely forgot the egg and you couldn’t even tell a difference in the look or taste. So, if you want to leave out the egg to make this a Vegan recipe, feel free! I’ve tried this recipe with 1, 2, and 3 bananas… it has been a success each time, so use what you have even if it is only 1 banana.

 

Last year, I posted this recipe on my Facebook page and all of my friends went nuts! About once every few weeks, someone writes to me to ask for the recipe because they didn’t write it down, or lost it in a junk drawer. As of today, my flawless recipe will be out in cyberspace forever! Tip: Bookmark this page and try out this recipe on Saturday!



Classic Baking Ingredients



I hope that you enjoy it. I know you will! You, your friends, your family, your coworkers, your neighbor, your mailman… Just make it already!

Bee's Banana Bread
2-3 very ripe bananas
1/3 cup butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten lightly
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon + extra for top
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
powdered sugar (optional)
 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large  mixing bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Add all ingredients, ONE at a time, mixing well after each new ingredient. Batter will be smooth and glossy with small lumps of banana.
3. Pour into greased loaf pan.
4. Sprinkle extra cinnamon on top of the batter.
5. Bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
6. Let sit to cool completely, or serve slightly warm. Add a sprinkle of powdered sugar to each slice if you like!


In my house, bananas don't go bad...
they get good!



In my house, we deliberately buy extra bananas just to let them “go bad.” The darker the better for this recipe! When bananas “go bad” they get super sweet. The sweetness and extra moisture is what makes this banana bread so good.



Bananas, Butter and Sugar... sounds like a dessert just by themselves!



The bananas I chose for this recipe were HUGE. Three very large bananas would probably be too many, so I only used two for this batch. When I mash up the bananas, I like to pick out the hard, black knots at the very end of the bananas. You don’t have to do this, but I like to. I tend to pick out anything that’s questionable, but I am a bit neurotic. (My friends and family reading this are saying, “A bit?!?!” lol)

LOTS of cinnamon on top of Bee's Banana Bread batter!

I like to sprinkle a bunch of cinnamon on the top of the batter once I’ve poured it into the loaf pan. I think that this helps it to form a really crusty crust. If you aren’t a fan of cinnamon you can completely eliminate it from the recipe. I’ve had to do it when I forgot to add it to the grocery list. Still delicious!


Check out that crust... Banana Bread fresh out of the oven!



One week last year, my neighbor went out of town. He left his golden retriever behind and asked for my Honey and I to dog sit. We LOVE to dog sit that sweet boy! On the very first day, I noticed that he had a huge bunch of organic bananas sitting on his kitchen counter. No way those things were going to last a week… by then they will be perfect for my banana bread. So, the evening before he came home, I made two loaves of banana bread. My Honey and I devoured one loaf and the other was waiting for my neighbor when he got home. He was so surprised! He said that he originally planned to share with his friends at work… but then he tried a piece and had to keep the whole loaf to himself!



Bee-utiful! Would you like a slice?



One evening, I put the banana bread in the oven as a storm was rolling through. About 20 minutes into the 1 hour baking time, the power went out. And it stayed out. After about 10 minutes of waiting for the power to come back on, I decided to just leave the loaf in the oven and see what happens. Luckily, I had not opened the oven door, so all of the heat was trapped inside. A friend of mine was visiting so we lit a few candles, told funny stories and watched the storm through the windows. After about 45 minutes, we got impatient (I told you about the amazing smell!) and opened the oven door. The banana bread was PERFECT!! This actually might have been the best banana bread that I have ever made. No joke. We sprinkled our powdered sugar in the dark kitchen and ate by candlelight. I’m telling you, this Bee’s Banana Bread Recipe is fool-proof.

I wish you could smell this Bee's Banana Bread...



Powdered sugar is optional... but I like my options!


I hope that you enjoy this recipe for many years to come! If you make a loaf, think about making a second one for your neighbor. You never know when someone could use a little comfort food. I like to show my love for others with food and other homemade goodies.


Please come back and leave me a comment if you use this recipe. I would love to hear your thoughts! Thank you for stopping by and Happy Baking!

Warmest Regards,
Bee
 



Love to Love You Baby...

A heart pillow for my Honey

Happy Valentines Day, ya'll!!

I hope that you all had an amazing Valentines Day! I was going to post this yesterday, but I decided that Valentines Day is best spent away from the confines of my computer desk.

Homemade Chocolate Strawberries...

Because my Honey had the entire day off of work, we were able to make it the best Valentines Day, ever! It was a day filled with love, laughter and lots of delicious food. We dipped our own chocolate-covered strawberries (and a slice of bacon! OMG), had our favorite Southwest Flank Steak for dinner... and our first-ever Chocolate Molten Lava Cake with vanilla ice cream for dessert. I poured the Lava Cakes into little ramekins and they were absolutely amazing! The day was totally worth looking the other way as I added all of the butter that was called for in that recipe. hehehe



Ever since I was a little kid, I have loved giving hand-made gifts to my loved ones. I enjoy putting time and thought into a gift. It's so easy to just run to the mall and pick up a present for someone, but I have always preferred the warmth of something made with love. This past Christmas, I created something special for every member of my family. I put a lot of time and thought in to each gift... and the payoff was amazing. Watching everyone open their gifts with excitement and then pass them around the room to show them off... the "Ooooh"s and "Awwww!"s made my day AND my Christmas.

This Valentines Day was no different! I knew that I wanted to make something for my Honey, but I wanted him to be able to enjoy for more than just a day. I found the perfect idea and pattern on one of my favorite websites, Ravelry . Ravelry is a website dedicated to free crochet and knitting patterns. You have to sign up for a free account, but it is SO worth it. Ravelry is where I will eventually post all of the free patterns that I have designed, so that I can share them with you. The pattern that I chose for my Honey is for a Crochet Heart Pillow by DROPS Design. You can find the pattern here: Heart Pillow- DROPS Design 

 



I love to start every project with a tasty snack!

Because of the pattern, I had so much fun making this project that I decided to share my experience with you. I love to test out a new pattern and this one was written so well! I'm a stickler for details and usually end up making corrections on patterns, but this one was spot-on from beginning to end. No corrections necessary. I'm not exactly sure how long it took for me to work up because I was working on it a few hours at a time while my Honey was out of the house this past week.



Before I sat down to work, I gathered all of the necessary supplies: pattern, yarn, H hook, a snugly blanket... and a Little Debbie Star Crunch. Good work requires good snacks! I decided to use Red Heart Super Saver yarn in Red for this project. I like the durability of the acrylic yarn, plus it is stiff enough to hold a good shape. 



It's starting to look like something...

This pattern really reminded me of an amigurumi pattern. Lots of tiny single crochet (SC) stitches and lots of counting. I am notorious for losing count so I am sure that entertains my Honey when I am working on the couch next to him. He has figured out that it is useless to try to talk to me if he can see me counting. He will start to ask me a question and then say, "Oh, sorry. You are counting." Hilarious! The first part of the pattern calls for making the top two "humps" of the heart and then sewing them together like a figure-8. After those were finished, I started wondering if this pattern was for a bra instead of a pillow. Ha!


Seriously, did I accidentally print a pattern for
an old school torpedo bra?!?

After I linked the two humps  cups  sides together, the pattern called for a few rows of even work to really solidify the heart. After those rows were complete, it really started to look like a bra  heart! From that point, all of the work was slowly and methodically making the opening smaller and smaller. This gave my project the tell-tale shape of a heart. It was really fun to watch it work up!

This project also taught me a lesson about taking pictures for my blog. When I got to the "ready-to-stuff" phase, I got so excited and finished up my work without taking any pictures. This whole blogging process will take some getting used to. I am not accustomed to photographing every step of a project just yet.



I remembered to snap a picture right
before I cut the yarn. LOL

Instead of pulling out all of my hard work to snap a few pictures, I decided to just charge forward. I used a ton of stuffing in this pillow, probably half of a Fiber Fill bag. I used more than it called for, but I wanted it to be very firm and not flatten out over time. After everything was filled and the bottom tip was properly sewn over, I sat with the pillow for about 5 minutes to smooth out any lumps or stretches. I noticed a few loose stitches around the "cleavage" area and used some extra thread and a large needle to sew them closed. I can be very particular about my work. *wink* My Heart Pillow ended up being 10" x 10" when finished.


A surprise Valentine just waiting on the couch...

Overall, I am very pleased with the end result! My Honey loves it and keeps throwing it around or using it as a neck pillow while watching TV. I didn't want to wrap it, so I hid it in the closet until Valentines Day morning. I woke up really early to sneak it out of the closet and put it on the living room couch and then I crawled back in bed. He always wakes up before me, so I knew it would be a nice surprise when he was still rubbing the sleepies out of his eyes. "Hey, where did that come from?" hehehe




I'm so glad that my Honey appreciates a homemade Valentine. He deserves to be given the world... for now, I give him my heart. In my house, every day feels like Valentines Day. I hope that you all try to make your house feel the same way!


Warmest Regards,
Bee