Today, Sunday,  we had a warm but stormy evening. My daughter’s tennis was canceled due to the upcoming storm so we went back home early. To console ourselves for missing out on the tennis fun (especially now that we are pumped up with the French Open finals),  we curled in the couch to watch “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” and enjoyed flavorful tea and banana bread. Great timing for banana bread. I had too many ripe bananas so I was quite generous with the recipe. I squashed four big and mushy bananas and the result was, oh, so very moist. Enjoy! Rain or shine, it doesn’t matter. I’ll keep posting this recipe until you make it!  Today, I increased a bit the quantities because I had a lot of bananas and used self-rising flour to make it fast. I put in the oven while we were having dinner and it was ready in time for the movie.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 5 tablespoons butter (room temperature)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 cups self-rising flour
  • (or 2 cups all purpose flour with 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt)
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

How to make: Beat the  butter with the sugar for a few minutes. Switch to the  lowest  speed and fold in the flour, banana, and vanilla extra. Do not beat, just stir until all the ingredients are mixed. Brush the bottom and sides of a loaf pan with butter. Pour in the banana mix and bake in 375 F or 190 C oven for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let it cool off before trying to take it out of the pan.

Update 05/25/2014

Yesterday I decided to add 2 tablespoons of chia seeds for more fiber.

More photos of the same basic recipe

Loaf of banana bread

Sliced loaf of banana bread

Banana bread with vegetable oil. Check the recipe “Banana bread — the healthiest!”

Round-shaped banana bread

Banana bread made in dark, metallic, long loaf pan

Banana bread cupcakes. See recipe “Banana bread cupcakes”

Banana bread with chia seeds