Banana Bread (for a Christmas Cookie Exchange Party?)

While I was home for Christmas my mom and I went to a cookie exchange party.  It is an annual tradition, hosted by my best friend's mother, who is the Martha Stewart of my hometown.  I arrived in town at 5am on December 23rd after renting a car in Brooklyn and driving through the night with a couple of my road warrior friends, and the event took place that evening.  Needless to say, I slept half the day, but when I awoke, I was ready to hit the kitchen.

Much to my dismay, my mother had planned ahead (of course) and had already made the cookies we were going to take to the cookie exchange.  She did mention that her batch made slightly less than anticipated, and it would not hurt to have an additional little contribution.

This was perfect because I was still able to add my own delicious creation but it took the pressure off and gave me the freedom to made something that may not have perfectly suited the Christmas cookie tradition.  I looked around the kitchen and saw a group of browning bananas and knew what to make: banana bread!  It came out wonderfully and was surprisingly a much appreciated addition to the cookie arrangement.

I got this recipe from Epicurious and chose it because it got rave reviews. I must say, I was very happy with how mine turned out and this will be my go-to recipe for banana bread in the future.  I (predictably) added chocolate chunks to the recipe, which made it passable as a dessert in the cookie exchange.  I'm sure with just toasted walnuts, as the recipe calls for, would be great, too.

Here is the recipe:

• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 large eggs at room temperature for 30 minutes
• 2 1/3 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 cups coarsely mashed very ripe bananas (6 large)
• 1/4 cup crème fraîche (I used sour cream)
  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 1/3 cups walnuts (4 ounces), toasted and chopped 
• (I added 1 cup of dark chocolate chunks)
  

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 2 (9- by 5- by 3-inch) metal loaf pans, then dust with flour, knocking out excess.
Sift together 3 1/4 cups flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a bowl.
Beat together eggs and sugar in bowl of electric mixer at medium-high speed until very thick and pale and mixture forms a ribbon when beater is lifted, about 10 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add oil in a slow stream, mixing, then mix in bananas, crème fraîche, and vanilla. Remove bowl from mixer and fold in flour mixture and walnuts gently but thoroughly.
Divide batter between loaf pans, spreading evenly, and bake in middle of oven until golden brown and a wooden pick or skewer comes out clean, 1 to 1 1/4 hours.
Cool loaves in pans on a rack 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack. Turn loaves right side up and cool completely.