Breads, Cakes, Desserts
Coty's Banana Bread
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Preheat a convection oven to 325F (350F for conventional).
Beat the egg in a small bowl, and set aside.
Melt the butter in a large mixing bowl (see notes). Add the bananas and mash until the mixture is nearly smooth (see notes).
Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a prepared 4x8-inch loaf pan. Bake for 60 - 75 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool on a rack for 30 minutes. Remove from pan and slice to serve.
Notes
My first taste of this was a loaf that our son-in-law sent back home with us from Florida last summer. It's excellent, and requires a minimum of equipment, but it took a few tries, all of them quite enjoyable, to get the recipe to where it tastes the same as his. All you need is two glass bowls - one small to beat the egg, and one large to mix everything else - a 1/2 cup dry measure, a 1 teaspoon measure, and a wooden spoon. A potato masher helps, but it's not absolutely necessary.
I prefer convection, but a 350F conventional oven works fine. The crust won't have quite the same crisp, and it takes a few minutes longer to bake, but it'll taste just as good.
The microwave does a great job of melting the butter. Put it in the large glass bowl and microwave on the lowest power setting, starting with 1 or 2 minute increments until you learn how fast or slow your microwave runs. Take it out when the stick is almost melted - you want it liquid, but not hot. My microwave takes about 8 minutes for butter that's at refrigerator temperature.
A potato masher makes the job easier, but the bananas can be mashed with clean hands and then mixed in to the butter with the wooden spoon.
This freezes really well. Slice, and wrap each piece individually in plastic wrap, and freeze flat in a ZipLock or vac sealed bag. To thaw, just place a wrapped piece on a plate on the countertop for 5 minutes, unwrap, and let it sit for an additional 1 hour.
Originally adapted from Simply Recipes Food and Cooking Blog.
