Sour Cream Banana Bread

Recently my husband committed to some very early morning meetings at church and I immediately started thinking how sad I was for him that he'd be missing out on our Sunday morning breakfasts. But wait, doesn't that mean I will too? How do you cook a big yummy breakfast on Sunday before 8.30 for 1 person while taking care of a 13 month old baby? So, sadness all around, I suppose.

But I did make the immediate connection that he'd need some nourishment on the go in the morning. That's when I found this recipe for banana bread made with sour cream. It is quite possibly the best banana bread I have ever eaten. I think part of that is due to the tangy sour cream but I am certain another reason is how you prepare the pans. Intrigued? Wish to learn more? Ok, I give. Here's the recipe.

This makes 4 loaves so the measurements in the parentheses are to cut it down to two.

1/4 cup (2 T.) white sugar
1 teaspoon (1/2 t.) ground cinnamon
3/4 cup (6 T.) butter
3 cups (1 1/2 c.) white sugar
3 (1 1/2) eggs
6 (3) very ripe bananas, mashed
1 - 16 ounce container (1 cup) sour cream
2 teaspoons (1 t.) vanilla extract
2 teaspoons (1 t.) ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (1/4 t.) salt
3 teaspoons (1 1/2 t.) baking soda
4 1/2 cups (2 1/4 c.) all-purpose flour
1 cup (1/2 c.) chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Grease four 7x3 inch loaf pans. I use Crisco for this but I imagine butter would work well. I wouldn't recommend Pam or another spray because of the next step.

In a small bowl, stir together 1/4 cup white sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Dust pans liberally with this cinnamon and sugar mixture. In a large bowl (seriously, even if you're doing the 2 loaf version, make it a pretty big bowl. I wish my bowl had been larger), cream butter and 3 cups sugar. Mix in eggs, mashed bananas, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon. Mix in salt, baking soda and flour. Stir in nuts. Divide into prepared pans. Bake for about 1 hour, until you are able to press lightly on the top of the loaf with no gushy feeling below and when you shake the pan, there's no wiggle.

Allow your loaves to cool on a cooling wrack for a bit and then turn them out onto the wrack to continue to cool.

Notes: You may have noticed that the halved version calls for 1 and 1 half eggs. This can be done by beating the eggs beforehand and then adding about 75% of the mixture. You'll be wasting half an egg but it's better than adding two whole eggs. At least, I think it is.

Also, I have made this with and without nuts. I think people expect nuts in banana bread but even if you don't like nuts, it's still awesome. I'm actually getting a little rumbly in my stomach just thinking about this exquisite moist bread. If you don't like walnuts, substitute pecans. I LOVE pecans but I still went with walnuts and it turned out great.