Cousin Pete's Banana Bread

Cousin Pete's old dorm-room special, all grown up and finally measured properly.

  • Makes1 loaf
  • Prep10 min
  • Bake60 min
  • Oven350°F

What you’ll need

  • 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1/3 cup butter, melted
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

How to make it

  1. Heat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9×5 loaf pan.
  2. Mix mashed bananas with melted butter in a big bowl.
  3. Stir in sugar, egg, and vanilla.
  4. Sprinkle baking soda and salt over the top and mix in.
  5. Add flour and stir just until combined. Fold in walnuts.
  6. Pour into the pan. Bake 55–60 min, until a toothpick comes out clean.
  7. Cool in the pan 10 minutes, then turn out.
Pete's tip The blacker the bananas the better. If they're still yellow you're making banana bread on hard mode.

Jenny’s notes

Pete's been making this since his dorm days; I finally talked him into measuring it properly. Aunt Dolores swaps half the sugar for brown sugar and calls it an improvement — which Pete can absolutely read right here.

— J.