Snow Day Equals Banana Bread

It snowed last night and even though it didn't drop nearly as much snow as Snowmagedan last year, it was still enough to give me a snow day today! Lucy, our dog, looooves the snow. So I got all bundled up this morning to go out and play in the snow with Lucy and Mr. G.

Unfortunately on top of the 6-8 inches of snow was a thin layer of ice which did not allow for much playing in the snow. So we said goodbye to Mr. G (who did have to go to work), took a couple laps around the block and then headed back inside.


At this point I probably should have gotten right to work since even though I did have a snow day, I was still expected to work from home. But there is something about snow and being cooped up in the house that makes me feel like I have to bake.






And on top of that, there were some overripe bananas in the freezer that have been just begging to be made into banana bread. Begging. Oh, and there is this cookbook that I received from Mr. G's aunt that I have not used yet, also begging for attention. 


**Sidenote: The internet has made it much too easy to not use cookbooks. Need a recipe? Google it. So despite having multiple cookbooks that I really want to use, I end up finding one online instead. From now on, I am going to make a better effort to use cookbooks.**

Back to the baking. I always used the same banana bread recipe growing up. It came out of one of my mom's  numerous cookbooks and always turned out perfect. But since moving away from home I have mostly just googled a recipe on occasions thatI felt like making banana bread. Not today. Today I was going to pull out that cookbook.


Every recipe I had used before called for at least part brown sugar, which meant the batter was a caramel color. This recipe called for only white sugar so the batter was a much lighter color than I was used to. Which made me skeptical. There was no way this recipe could be better than the one I had growing up.


Oh it could, and it is. (Sorry Mom!)


This recipe calls for more salt and more flour than some of the other recipes out there, but let me tell you, it is very, very good. I usually tweak recipes at least a little bit, but with this one I made it just like it said. Oh, except I used egg beaters instead of eggs. And regular salt in place of the sea salt. It's what I had in the house.


Make this. You don't even have to have 6 inches of snow outside. But I think that makes it taste better!

Banana Nut Bread
From Bon Appetit, Y'all


1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon fine sea salt (I just regular salt)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature (I used egg beaters)
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup chopped pecans


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush an 8x5x3-inch loaf pan with butter. In a bowl, whisk together the flour salt, and baking soda. Set aside.


To make the batter, in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle, cream the 1/2 cup of butter and the sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the mashed bananas. Add the reserved dry ingredients and pecans and stir to combine. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.


Bake until a rich, golden brown and the cake (bread) starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, 1 hour to 1 1/4 hours (mine took the whole time, but if I did it again I would take it out 5 minutes earlier). Transfer to a rack to cool slightly, then invert onto the rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days (right, because it is really going to last that long).