You’ve had terrible banana bread, we all have. Who could tell Aunt Edna that her brick of bananas needed a gallon of milk to wash it down? Not me. She might have- bless her heart- gone with a recipe that called for creaming a good amount of butter with sugar before adding her other ingredients. Our secret to a nice, tall loaf of banana goodness without the heft? Using vegetable oil in place of butter and throwing in a little buttermilk for tang. As for what kind of vegetable oil to go with, try using olive oil- it’s got more fat and less processing than canola (and I promise that you won’t taste the olive). Try this trick to ripen yellow and green bananas in a pinch.
Ingredients
2cupsAll purpose flour
1tspBaking soda
2tspSalt
2bananasVery ripe
1-1/3cupsSugar
2Eggs
2/3cupOlive oil
1/3cupButtermilk
2tspVanilla extract
Zest of 1 orangeoptional
1/2tspGround cardamomoptional
1/2cupFinely chopped chocolateagain, optional, but really not
Instructions
Line a medium-sized loaf pan (about 9"x5") with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350F.
Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl until just combined. (Flour, baking soda, and salt).
Mash the bananas with the sugar. Whisk in the eggs, oil, buttermilk, vanilla and all your optional flavors (10/10 encourage using chocolate!!).
Pour your wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the center no longer sinks when you poke it.