The BEST Banana Bread ever!

There are so many recipes for banana bread out there. How do you even choose which one to use? Well I am here to tell you I have tried so many and tweaked each recipe until I found the one that is the best I have ever had. Even people who do not usually eat banana bread (my husband) will eat a slice each day when I make this!

I will tell you now I don't put raisins in my banana bread. You can if you'd like but I just stick to walnuts. Which are also optional!

Ingredients

• 4 ripe bananas (the skin should be basically all black when you decide to use them but could be a little less ripe)

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (8 TBSP) room temperature or slightly melted to make it easier to mix

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 2 eggs, beaten

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp vanilla

• 1/2 cup walnuts (or as many as you like)

• 1 TBSP brown sugar (optional)

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Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a bread loaf pan. I use a ceramic bread loaf pan. Chop walnuts to your desired size and then roast with a little butter on a skillet. Roast them to your liking and then add the brown sugar to the pan too. Stir it continuously and let the brown sugar melt. Watch them carefully they will burn easily! After the brown sugar is melted set aside.

2. In a mixing bowl, mix together the butter and the sugar. Some people will say keep the butter at room temperature. But I never have butter at room temperature so I do microwave it to make it softer/melted and easier to mix together.

3. Add your bananas to the mixing bowl and mash together. Use a whisk to mix it really good. Then add your two eggs and mix that all together until a smoother texture. It will have small clumps from the banana but get it mixed together as best you can so you don't have those clumps in your bread.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Then add that to your mixing bowl of batter.

5. Add your vanilla and your walnuts to the batter and mix together to get as smooth as you can. Add the mixture to the buttered bread loaf pan. Bake at 350°F for 60-70 minutes. Since I use a ceramic bread loaf pan it takes about 70-75 minutes for mine. If you have a metal bread loaf pan it may take closer to the 60 minutes.

6. Let cool for about 10 minutes. I leave my bread in the pan and just cut slices from it as I want to eat it so it does not dry out. I cover it with tin foil and leave it out on the counter.