Banana Rum Bread

Growing up my house went through bananas like crazy, and we would buy anywhere from two to three bunches each week. However, at the end of the week, there were always those two or three bananas that were so ripe that no one wanted to eat them. As a result, I have made a lot of loaves of banana bread over the years.

Ingredients you will need:

3 over-ripe bananas

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup canola oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/4 cup clear rum (I used Brugal, but I also recommend Bacardi)

2 cups of all-purpose flour (no need to sift)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 extra banana, sliced for decoration

Note that I didn't add nuts this time, but if you'd like that extra crunch factor I would recommend 1/2 cup of walnuts.

Let's go through the steps:

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

2. Grease your loaf pan. Mine is 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 by 2 1/2, which is a little on the smaller size. I would recommend a 9 by 5 by 3 pan. I like to use PAM for convenience, but you can also grease with butter or shortening.

3. Mash the bananas in a large bowl. Leave it kinda chunky so that it doesn't get too liquid-y later on.

4. Add sugar, canola oil, vanilla extract, eggs, and rum to the mashed bananas. Mix together with a wooden spoon until you get a creamy consistency.

5. Measure out all dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt) and whisk in a small bowl. Add dry ingredients into banana mixture and mix together with wooden spoon until no lumps remain. If you would like to add nuts, you would also mix them in at this time.

6. Pour mixture into greased pan and gently shake to even the top. Add sliced banana pieces on top of mixture before putting in oven.

7. Bake until toothpick comes out clean, which could take 60-70 minutes. With my oven I find that it usually takes towards 70 minutes to bake, sometimes even longer. Let it cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

#bananabread #recipes