Vincent Price’s scrumptious Banana Nut Bread

Have you, like me, been letting your bananas get a little too ripe lately? Well don’t throw them away as I’ve got another tasty recipe from Mary and Vincent Price’s A Treasury of Great Recipes cookbook – Banana Nut Bread. It really is so simple to make and you can scoff a slice or two for breakfast, morning or afternoon tea, or even as a late-night snack.

Here’s how to make it and at the end of the post, there’s a video of me making it. Hope you enjoy!

INGREDIENTS
Butter
Sugar
All-purpose flour
Baking soda
Salt
Bananas
Walnuts

METHOD
1. Preheat oven to moderate (350F/4).

2. Cream together until lights: 1/2 cup (113g) butter and 1 cup (200g) sugar.

3. Beat in 2 eggs.

4. Sift together 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir into butter-sugar mixture, blending well.

5. Stir in 1 cup mashed ripe bananas and 1/2 cup (40g) chopped walnuts.

2. Spoon batter into a well buttered 1-pound bread tin (9 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 2 3/4) and bake in moderate over for 1 hour, or until loaf tests done.

7. Cool for 5 minutes, then turn out on rack to cool completely.

MY TIPS
When creaming the butter and sugar, ensure the butter is at room temperature to ensure a smooth mixture. Sometimes I cheat and put the butter in the microwave for 1min using the quick defrost setting. Just don’t let it turn to liquid.

As for the eggs, I always take them out of the fridge a couple of house before using them. Like the butter, they work best at room temperature. I also lightly beat them separately before folding them gently into the mixture. This helps with the rise of the loaf I suspect.

If you don’t have any walnuts around, try toasted almonds or cashews (40g) or even chia seeds (1tsp).

As for the bananas – the riper then better I say. And rather than waste them if you have more than 1 cup mashed, just throw the whole lot in and give the baking an extra few minutes. Just so long as you knife comes out clean you will be OK.