I remember waiting for the hand of bananas my mom bought from the local market to go bad because that meant banana bread! I would then help her make the banana bread for our afternoon tea. A classic banana bread has toasted walnuts and has a stodgy bake packed with bananas. This recipe is just that, and as you know, I constantly tweak recipes to add a little zhuzh. Learn how to make my b-a-n-a-n-a bread. IYKYK ;)

Let’s get to cooking.

Prep:

• Prep time: 15 minutes

• Cook time: 1 hour

• Bake temp: 350°F.

Ingredients:

• 4 overripe bananas

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup softened unsalted butter

• 3/4 cup brown sugar (regular granulated works fine)

• 1 cup whole milk

• 1 1/2 cups toasted crumbled walnuts

• 2 eggs, beaten

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Recipe:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan with butter and dust lightly with flour. Crumble walnuts into tiny pieces and lightly roast on medium heat, constantly stirring/tossing, for about 3-5 minutes. You will know it’s toasted when you see the walnuts take on a darker color and smell toasty. The texture of the walnut also becomes super crumbly when you pinch and break it.

Pro tip: When you crumble the walnuts, don’t toss out the fine, grainy, dusty bits; toast everything! Those bits mix in with the bread batter, adding extra flavor. Even if you buy toasted walnuts, I would lightly toast them again to make them taste nuttier.

Whisk the brown sugar and butter in a stand/hand-held mixer or a bowl until the mixture turns creamy. Don’t worry; the mixture won’t get smooth just because there isn’t much moisture in the butter for the sugar to melt completely.

Pro tip: Using brown sugar in this recipe brings out the flavors of the overripe banana and the toasted walnuts even more. The molasses in brown sugar enhances the bread with a rich, savory-sweet, and nutty layer of flavor.

Mash the bananas in a separate bowl until they’re clumpy and mushy. You want to end up with a chunky and wet mash. Use milk to get that consistency. I add milk regardless to mine to make the bread stodgier. If you want a drier bread, skip the milk.

Pro-tip: If your bananas are not overripe and goopy, adding milk helps add more fat and moisture to the mix.

Add the eggs, vanilla extract, and milk to the banana mixture and combine it with the butter batter. If using a mixer, mix on low-medium speed.

Sift the flour, baking soda, and kosher salt in a separate bowl and mix well. Add the dry mixture to the batter, a cup at a time, to combine everything properly. Fold in the toasted walnuts as the very last step.

Pour the mix into the loaf pan and tap it on the counter to level it. Bake at 350˚F for 55-60 min or until a toothpick or butter knife inserted into the center comes out almost clean.

After letting the banana bread rest for 10 minutes on a heat-safe counter, I have a unique approach for the next step of cooling. First, I cover the wire rack with a layer of plastic wrap. Then, I carefully flip the bread out from the pan onto the prepared rack. Finally, I prop the banana bread back right side up and wrap it entirely with plastic wrap to seal in the moisture for the remainder of the cooling process.

Cut and serve with butter. When storing, cover it back with saran wrap. No refrigeration is required. Happy eating!