Banana Bread

I can't believe I'm giving away my "secret" recipe for banana bread...but everyone needs to be able to make amazing banana bread! And it's really not much of a secret, I got it off of the Food Network, but added vanilla extract. If you have all these ingredients in your pantry/fridge, all you need to buy are the bananas! Banana Bread is great for breakfast, snack, gifts to ppl (it's what I gave R for V day), etc. Put those baking skills to use and check out my tips at the bottom for making it!

Ingredients:
1 Cup sugar
1 Stick butter (real butter, none of that fake stuff!)
2 eggs
3 brown bananas (medium-large)
1 Tablespoon milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt (optional)
(Butter, Pam, or Crisco spray for pans)

1. Preheat oven to 325. Butter (or spray) 1 or 2 loaf pans.
2. Cream sugar and butter until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time.
3. Mash bananas with fork, mix in milk, cinnamon, and vanilla.
4. Add bananas to cream, stir, then add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
5. Stir/mix just until flour disappears.
6. If you want to add nuts, this is when I would do it...but I don't use nuts!

If you are baking in 1 pan, bake for 1 hour.
If you are baking in 2 pans, bake for 45 minutes.

Tips:

• Make sure your bananas are nice and brown. They mash more easily.
• I use an electric mixer to cream the butter, sugar, and eggs; and a spoon for mixing everything else.
• Make sure the mixture is nice and thick.
• A little extra cinnamon and vanilla never hurts. :)
• I use disposable aluminum pans and generously coat them with Crisco spray.
• Check the bread with a toothpick, 5-10 min before time is up. If the toothpick comes out clean, they are ready to take out of the oven! If not, stick them back in the oven and check every 5 minutes.
• Do not try to cook these fast, slow and steady at 325 will make them turn out perfect with a slight crispy edge!