Alex had a ridiculous number of snow days in a row recently, so I haven’t got much recipe testing done. But I did have some bananas that were going black, so I decided a good snow day activity would be making banana bread!
This recipe is from How America Eats by Clementine Paddleford. I was reading through it again on one of the recent snow days. Actually, I had I locked myself in a separate room from my kids for a few minutes. And in those minutes I was reminded all over again how much I love her simple, informative style of writing. (You can get her book here on eBay.) As I was reading about wonder-cook 14-year-old Carol Jean Byma and her banana bread while listening to TJ scrabbling at the lock with various toys to try and open it, I decided that once I was brave enough open the door, my wild monkeys were going to help me make banana bread. Because it’s possible that they could some day be wonder cooks.
Or expert lock-picks. It’s all the same thing, right?
But they did do a great job smashing the bananas.
Sooner than I would have liked, the bread was ready for the oven.
I added chocolate chips because I needed chocolate.
And it was a success!
“This is really good. It tastes just like my mom’s banana bread.”
“Oh!” Alex yelled in the background, “I want to try it, too!”
“Yum.”
The Verdict: Very Good
From The Testing Notes –
So, it turns out Carol Jean Byma really is a wonder cook. The banana bread was great. It was very crumbly fresh from the oven, but after it cooled it was easier to slice and had a very sticky and sweet top crust that was a really good foil to the soft interior. The chocolate chips are optional (for some people) but we always love chocolate and banana together.
And yes, eventually TJ did find a toy that was able to pick the lock and he broke into the room and found me. It was only a matter of time.
I worked for a pastry chef that used Todd English’s banana bread recipe. I realize this a mid-century site and you love recreate retro recipes but if the mood should ever strike, and you’d like to bake something current, check out Todd’s recipe. It is darn good! 🙂
Thank you for the recommendation!!!! I love a good banana bread. 🙂
Banana bread is the greatest of all quick breads. It’s just science.
I admit I’ve never put lemon juice in banana bread before, though. Did you do that here, and if so, did it have any effect on the taste?
I made this last night (with the chocolate chips). Just delicious!
Ruth, you saved me! Snow had me trapped in my apartment for a week with three aging bananas, but not in the mood to find a recipe for banana bread. I decided to see what your latest creation was, and it happened to be this–which was also delicious! Thank you! : )
Love the Fire King!
I normally use an America’s Test Kitchen recipe for banana bread, but I was looking for something quicker and with fewer ingredients and so I made this last week. Now I think this might be my go-to recipe, and I’m going to make another one today. One thing I thought was unusual was that it was pretty sweet when I ate a slice on the first day, but the flavors seemed to blend overnight and the next day it was less sweet and more banana-y.
This looks great!! We all love banana bread and it is always requested when we are with the grandkids. Thanks for sharing this recipe experience!