There’s probably nothing I associate more strongly with childhood than banana bread. Let’s be real, I think this is the one thing we’ve all baked before, even those of us who aren’t really big bakers at heart. Other than the fact that we can all pretend we’re just eating fruit and therefore being healthy, it’s probably one of the easiest recipes there is.
Duration: 10 minutes prep, 45 minutes bake
Ingredients (for one 8-oz. ramekin):
1/2 banana
1 tablespoon butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg, preferably medium-sized
Vanilla extract (optional)
A little extra butter and flour, to grease the ramekin
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and flour the ramekin (click here for a step-by-step).
In a bowl, mix the butter and sugar until fully combined.
In a separate bowl, mash the banana.
Mix the banana into the sugar and butter mixture. Add the egg and a drop of vanilla extract, if you have any, and mix until incorporated.
Add the flour and baking powder, and mix until incorporated. If you want to add an extra something to your banana bread, like nuts or chocolate chips, this is the time to mix it in the batter. I decided to go with walnuts.
The first few times, I chopped the walnuts too small and couldn’t find it anywhere in the finished product. You can definitely go bigger than you think you can.
Now, pour the batter into the ramekin. Don’t worry about smoothing the top, it really won’t matter at all.
Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the top has a nice, brown color. I’d risk overbaking a little to get a nice crust on this one, since the batter’s pretty moist and won’t dry out too easily.
baking for one 