From-Scratch Banana Bread

So, about a week and a half ago, I purchased some bananas at the local grocery store. I stuck them in the fridge and... forgot about them. Completely. Which is not normal, because I enjoy eating bananas and I have been on somewhat of a fruit craving for the past few weeks.

Anyway, my forgotten bananas turned a nice shade of brown. Opening the fridge and spotting them, I decided that now is the perfect chance for me to learn how to make banana bread completely from scratch. Besides, I haven't done a food experiment for a while now, and it's about time I do one.

I got out my trusty cookbook that my esteemed cook of a grandmother gave to me and went in search of a banana bread recipe that looked easy and didn't require me to run out and buy any odd ingredients.

I came across this recipe, complete with a note written by my grandma saying it was a good banana bread recipe. And everyone in my family knows that when my grandma says a recipe is good... that means it truly is GOOD (and in turn, if she says it's bad... don't even think about attempting it, you'll only be wasting your time).

Here are some pictures from my attempt:

All of the necessary ingredients all together. However, I ended up not using chocolate chips (even though I dearly love them in banana bread). I was intending to make 2 pans, one plain, for a friend, and one with chocolate chips, for me to share with another friend. It ended up being that 2 of my 5 bananas were moldy, so I had to throw them away. Had they not been so, I would have had enough mashed bananas to make 2 pans. So I settled for 1 pan of plain.

The first three ingredients in... no turning back now!

All ready to be poured into the pan....

Making a mess of my stove area. But it's good fun anyway. :)

In the oven. I had to switch it to the top rack halfway through though, because the bread got really tall and I was concerned about it touching the top rack and getting all burnt or something.

Timer's set.

End result. It looks pretty tasty! When it had about 10 minutes to go, I brushed some egg white and sprinkled sugar on top for a sweet crunchy shiny top. This isn't in the recipe. I didn't have any toothpicks, but I stuck a fork in to see if it was done. A chunk of the top came off when I pulled the fork out, and I munched on it to see how it was. Pretty good! Can't wait to have a big piece of it!!

Here's the recipe:

1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp shortening
1 egg
3/4 cup milk (I used vanilla soymilk, cause that's all I had)
3 cups flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup chopped nuts (I omitted the nuts... mostly cause I'm not a huge fan and I didn't have any on hand)
You could add chocolate chips. I am going to next time. :)
1 cup mashed bananas

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x5x3 loaf pan. Mix sugar, shortening and egg thoroughly. Stir in milk. Measure flour by dip-level-pour method or by sifting (I didn't know what that meant exactly so I just didn't pack it down, and dumped it in). Blend dry ingredients; stir in. Blend in nuts. (I added the mashed banana at this point). Bake 60-70 mins, or until toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean. Crack in top of loaf is characteristic. Cool thoroughly before slicing with a thin, sharp knife.

I will let you all know how it tastes!