Memere's Banana Bread

This recipe came from my grandmother and the smell of it baking always reminds me of her.  We called her Memere and she was an amazing, strong, beautiful woman, who also happened to be a great cook and cooked for 14 kids for years.  Talk about planning!  I always wonder how she did it and she must have been amazing at time management, planning, and delegation of duties.

So you start with some VERY ripe bananas, the browner the better because they are much sweeter at this point.  The bananas in the picture below are not near ripe enough, but they sure are pretty.

I started making this tonight and found I didn't have two eggs so I replaced one egg with a mix of 1 Tbsp ground flax seed and 3 Tbsp of water and let it sit for two minutes before adding it to the mix.  This is the first time I've done this and it actually worked really well in this recipe.  I will definitely try it more in the other recipes.  Such a bonus to add a little extra nutrition to baked goods.

Recipe:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large bowl mix:
1/2 cup veggie oil (Memere used melted shortening)
2 eggs or substitute
1 cup mashed banana, about 2 bananas
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Mix until well combined then add:
2 cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Mix all ingredients until it just comes together.  Then add any extras you might like including any of the following:
chocolate chips
coconut
pineapple
any other fruit, strawberries make it very pretty but a little more moist than I like.

Place in a loaf pan and bake 45-60 minutes.  You can make muffins, or small loaves of this too without problem but you will need to adjust baking time.  I've made the following with approximate times:
mini muffins: 15-20 minutes
mini loaves: 20-25 minutes
cupcake size: 20 minutes

You will love how this smells and more importantly how it tastes.  Make sure to eat some warm with a little butter and you will be in heaven.

I wish you enough!