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March 8, 2009

Jake's Awesome Banana Bread


For Christmas last year I had a really difficult time finding gifts for my thirteen year old son, Jake. He's at the age where he's too old for most traditional toys and I'm not into gifting cash so unless I want to give him a bunch of video games, pickings are slim.
One chilly afternoon I ducked into my neighborhood bookstore to kill some time. After I found a few little stocking stuffers and a book for myself, I decided to wander over to the kids section to see if I could find anything interesting for Jake. That's when I found this book, Teens Cook: How to Cook What You Want to Eat. After flipping through the pages, I knew this would be perfect for him! It's written by two teenagers (both girls) and all the recipes are food that kids would actually want to eat. The recipes are simple, they don't have a lot of ingredients, and are written in a way a teenager can understand. Best of all there are photographs of every recipe.

This banana bread recipes was the first one he wanted to try. He made it without any help from me -- I was impressed by his confidence! I have to admit, I didn't expect it to be all that but I can honestly say that it was very, very good. I loved it! It wasn't fancy or fussy, it was just everything banana bread is supposed to be - moist, lots of sincere banana flavor, and just a little crust along the edges to give it a little texture. And, as an added bonus, while it's baking it makes the entire house smell great wonderful!

Jake's Awesome Banana Bread
Yield: 10 or so slices, depending on how thick you slice the bread<\ adapted from Teen Cookbook

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
3 medium very ripe bananas, slightly mashed
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 Kosher salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup walnuts (optional - Jake doesn't use them in his bread)

Preheat the oven to 375F. Lightly butter or spray the bottom and sides of a 9-inch loaf pan.

Place the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Add the eggs and mix for 1 minute. Add the bananas and mix for 1 minute. The batter will be lumpy, but the pieces of banana should all be 1/2 inch or smaller.

Add the baking soda and salt and mix on low speed for 1 minute. Add the flour and mix on low speed, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally until all the flour is incorporated. Stir in the walnuts if you decide to use them.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350F and bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Remove the bread from the pan and place it on a cooling rack. (If you let the bread cool in the pan, the bottom will get soggy.)



14 comments:

  1. Jake totally rocks! He can make this bread for me anytime... I'll even eat the whole thing! Hey, he could make up a bunch of these,, and with his teen charm, sell them at school to the teachers, or at a bake fair- he just needs to tell them he baked it and throw 'em a grin... works on the ladies like crazy!

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  2. Yay Jake! This cookbook sounds totally awesome. What a great idea! And this banana bread...well, it was obviously a great idea, too, and it looks awesome!! Yum!

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  3. Hmm, I may have to get that book for Vaughan and have him make me some Banana Bread, that is one of my favorites. By the way, all three of us decimated the "sweet & salty" carmel apple today, it was awesome!

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  4. Jake, you have a totally cool mom, I'm going to get this book for my grandkids, do you mind if I copy your mom???

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  5. Way to go Jake! Your bread looks amazing. Now I have a seriously insane craving for banana bread.

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  6. You go Jake! That's absolutely awesome makes him feel good and builds his confidence. I wish I could let mine go but I seriously worry about the mess and I know there will be a MESS!

    Guess what, I've seen that book. They also have a baking one that looks really good. I wanted it for me but have been trying to refrain from buying any more cookbooks. Of course I just ordered another.

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  7. mmmm. i love banana bread!! way to go jake :)

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  8. What an awesome gift, and quite the talented son. I made a banana bread myself over the weekend, looks like me and Jake are on the same page.

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  9. Tell him he's completely awesome, and I wish my husband had had a cookbook growing up. He's not a very good cook :P

    But, he'll always have something to make mom smile now :D

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  10. Hello!This bread looks amazing, and I certainly will be making it. One comment/question.......I am finding a lot of recipes that don't specify what size pan to bake the item in. (ex. 9X5 or 8X4) and to me, it does make a difference. Can you tell me what sized pan you used? Thanks so much!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Cooks42! It's a standard size 9x5 loaf pan. :)

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    2. Dark metal pan too :) I think the material does make a difference too.

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    3. Thanks so much, Julia! Another question, if I might. Can breads like this be doubled? My hubby east a piece of banana bread every single morning. (I think he's turning yellow! LOL) By making a loaf at a time gets time consuming and I tend to look for recipes that double or triple. I think it makes a difference with the leavening agents, but that's about all I know about it LOL! Thanks again.this is an amazing site and I came across it quite by accident. Fortunately for me I might add! Take care, Diane

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    4. Yes, it can easily be doubled and maybe tripled. I do that with a lot of recipes but just make sure you take your time with mixing and being extra careful with your measuring. If you're planning on baking all at the same time, I'd encourage you to turn and move the loaves around the oven half way through the baking time. This keeps everything baking evenly.

      I'm glad you like my site! Thank you for taking the time to let me know :)

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