Banana Bread

There are many banana bread recipes out there.  But we’ve found none better than the one suggested by Mollie Katzen in her classic 1977 Moosewood Cookbook.  Yes, that’s the original cookbook with the staggering amounts of butter, cream and cheese laced throughout.  While we know that this type of cooking is now largely abandoned, we’d like to defend some of these supposed excesses as being actually necessary to make outstanding food.  This recipe is a good case in point.  Yes, it has a full cup and a half of butter, but when spread over two loaves and then into at least a dozen slices per loaf, the butter load is not so bad, and certainly no more than what folks normally spread over their bread.  As long as you don’t do this (and why would you need to given how good it tastes?) you very well may be eating less butter in the long run than you would with a less luscious loaf.

2 cups ripe banana
1 cup strong black coffee
1½ cups butter, melted
1¾ cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2½ teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
½ teaspoon lemon extract
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
sesame seeds

Mash banana with coffee. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar until creamy.  Beat in the eggs one at a time.  Add in the vanilla, almond, and lemon extracts and beat until light.

Sift together the flours, salt, baking soda and powder, nutmeg and cinnamon.  Mix about 1/3 of this mixture into the liquid ingredients, until the dry ingredients are just incorporated.  Repeat until all the dry ingredients are used up.  Mix in the banana-coffee mixture, and beat until all are well incorporated.

Generously butter 2 two-pound loaf pans and sprinkle with sesame seeds.  Pour in the batter.  Bake in a 350° F oven for 45-50 minutes, or until the loaves are set.  Remove from oven and cool for 15 minutes.  Remove loaves from pan and let cool to room temperature.

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