My kids just recently had spring break. One thing I like to do when we have slow mornings is to bake a special breakfast for them. My kids wake up gently to sweet smells wafting under their doorways and tempting them out of bed. Such a stark contrast to a loud jarring alarm and a rushed bowl of cereal.
One of our favorites is banana bread. It is great because everyone likes it, it's easy to make, and leftovers can be wrapped into individual slices and frozen. They are easily defrosted by being toasted with a pat of butter or they can even be microwaved.
Want to make some with me? Here goes:
Gather up your ingredients.
Peel your three medium bananas and mash them up in a bowl.
Add one stick of softened butter and combine well. (I put mine in the microwave for 20 seconds but you could also just bring it to room temperature ahead of time or warm it in a saucepan).
Now add two eggs.
Add 1/2 cup of sugar.
Now add the 1/2 cup buttermilk. Since most of us do not have buttermilk lying around, I have a simple shortcut for you. Get your regular milk and just add vinegar to turn it into buttermilk. The ratio is one tablespoon of vinegar for one cup of milk. Let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes and you will notice the milk has thickened. That is how you know it is ready. I have also used regular milk and it tastes great, too (in case you don't feel like dealing with the whole buttermilk thing.)
Now add 1 teaspoon of Vanilla. (I forgot to add mine until after I added the flour as you can see in the picture above but it didn't matter). In a separate bowl, whisk together the 2 1/2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and one teaspoon of salt
Stir your flour mixture into the wet mixture until just combined. You don't want to over mix.
Now add the mini chocolate chips. I added 3/4 of a cup but you can adjust the amount to your liking.
Prepare a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan by putting parchment paper at the bottom and then spaying the pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Now pour your batter into your prepared loaf pan.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for an hour. (This baked for exactly an hour and came out perfectly but it really depends on your oven. Check after an hour and if the middle is still jiggly continue to bake for up to 15 more minutes.) Let it cool for a few minutes then take a spatula and run it around the edges to loosen the sides. I grab a dish towel and turn the loaf pan upside down. The bread should fall right out. You can then place it on a cooling rack.
Cooling off and ready to be devoured.
Eat it warm and steamy with an ice cold glass of milk. Slice and individually wrap any leftovers and store in the freezer for another day!