Since I usually cook everything from 'scratch' that means I don't actually use recipes. I often will take 3 or 4 recipes of a certain style or type of dish and then I just start 'cooking from scratch'. To me, a recipe is more like a general idea or something to help me brainstorm. So last nights banana bread recipes ended up being used to brainstorm amounts for the flour, baking powder, eggs and butter but everything else was by me thinking what sounded good, or doing taste testing and deciding to add some things. It turned out AMAZING but since it isn't actually a recipe, I decided I had better post it to my online files so my kids could make it if they wish, or if I wanted to make it again and see what I did! Ha. Amounts are pretty much guesstimates - just taste the batter and see if you want to add more or less of something. It's that simple.
Banana Bread
2 c flour
1/2 baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
4-5 mashed, really ripe bananas
2 1/2 cups cereal with flakes; I used Grape Nut Flakes
1/4 c hot water
2 eggs
1/2 c butter, soft
1 c granulated sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
1 t vanilla
1 t lemon juice
1/2 t cinnamon
1 c pecans, roughly chopped
Mix the bananas, hot water and the cereal together and let them sit for a couple minutes to soften. Add the eggs, butter and sugar, vanilla and lemon juice and mix. Add the final dry ingredients; flour, soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nuts. Stir till blended. Pour into a greased or parchment lined loaf pan. Bake approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes until done. Start testing the center at 1 hour with a knife to see if the center is done yet. The pan you use and your own oven will determine if you need another 15 minutes. You can cover the top with foil if it's starting to get too brown. Let cool complete. Turn out of the pan. Wrap in foil and refrigerate overnight. This improves taste and texture of quick breads!
