There comes a point in the holiday season — maybe it’s Christmas Eve — when everything has gotten to be too much. Too much running around. Too many trips to the grocery store. Too much rich food. Too much fanciness.
I heard someone say once that one of the great things about this time of year is that you can shut yourself away in your bedroom, and anytime someone tries to open the door you can shout, “DON’T COME IN HERE!” Everyone will assume you are wrapping presents, when in fact you’re reading a trashy magazine, listening to a true crime podcast and working your way through a bottle of wine.
As much as you like entertaining — and I do; I call it “Fezziwigging” after the jolly character in A Christmas Carol — the idea of a quiet evening of listening to jazz and reading sounds endlessly appealing.
Especially if the food is simple. A piece of toast, perhaps, and a diet soda. Or cheese and crackers and a pot of tea.
Or — and hear me out on this — a couple of slices of banana bread. Plain, no secret ingredients, no mysterious baking techniques, no — and this cannot be stressed strongly enough — walnuts.
Plain banana bread and a glass of milk.
And a playlist of torch songs.
- 2 1/3 cups (531 g) mashed banana
- 2 cups (240 g) flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup (160 g) brown sugar
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter
- 2 eggs
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a loaf pan.
You know how the bottom shelf in your freezer is a No Man’s Land of half-empty bags of frozen vegetables, or fruit that you meant to make into a smoothie a month ago? Looking through our freezer this afternoon I found a couple of half-full bags of frozen banana chunks. Why they were in there, and how they got there, is a story for another day, a story of intrigue, danger and, depending on how you look at it, deep betrayal.
But the point is, a couple of large handfuls of frozen banana chunks are just about right for this recipe. Alternatively, actual fresh bananas that your kids have avoided because one of them had a brown spot on it will work well too. Put whichever type of bananas you have — minus the peels — in your electric mixer and beat them until they are grey and mushy. Set them aside. Don’t bother cleaning out the mixing bowl; everything’s going to be mixed together within the next couple of minutes or so anyway.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set this aside as well.
In your still-banana-y mixing bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar together. Once the mixture has come together a little, turn up the speed and whip it until it is light and fluffy.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Then bring the bananas back to the party, and beat them in too.
Turn the mixer to its lowest speed and spoon the flour mixture in, until it has just barely been incorporated.
Turn the mixture into your loaf pan, and bake it for an hour or so, until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let the banana bread cool a little before turning it out of the loaf pan. Serve slices of it with gloppy melting butter or a scoop of ice cream.
Featured photo: Banana bread. Photo by John Fladd.
