Rum Banana Bread
First of all, you must understand that I don’t like bananas unless they’re coated in a lot of sugar and cooked. Things like banana bread, bananas foster, and, err, banana bread are OK. Raw bananas or fake banana flavoring are never (ever) OK. This is a recipe for people who don’t prefer bananas as well as those who aren’t banana-phobes.
Here’s what you need:
- 1 stick butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar (light or dark)
- 4 overripe bananas*, peeled and mashed
- 2 TBS sour cream
- 2 eggs
- 1 ⅔ cups AP flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 TBS spiced dark rum
- 1 cup pecans (that’s pih-KAHNS) or walnuts (optional, but why not?!)
*I only buy bananas for banana bread, so I always buy near black bananas that grocery stores aren’t keen on selling, so they’ll sell them to me for half off.
- In a stand mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the bananas.
- Once thoroughly combined, add the sour cream and eggs.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients (this’ll save you from sifting!) then add to the creamed banana mixture.
- Add vanilla and rum.
- Fold in ¾ cup of the nuts.
Turn out into a greased 8×8″ pan. (I prefer the Baker’s Joy spray, but you can also butter/flour.) Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup of nuts on top.
Bake at 350ºF for 40-60 minutes, until the center is firm. (It’s really easy to underbake banana bread!)