The Pioneer Woman's Banana Bread

I have never been a fan of bananas. I might be able to bring myself to eat a bite or two of one every now and then, but I REALLY have to be in the mood for it. Other than that, I'd prefer to have nothing to do with bananas... except when it comes to banana bread. I may not like bananas, but I love banana bread (no nuts, though, please). Go figure.
A week or so ago, my sweet husband brought home two bunches of bananas from the grocery store... and then proceeded to leave them on the kitchen counter and NOT eat them (he DOES like bananas... so does Rylee). A couple days ago, I walked into the kitchen to get something out of the fridge, and as I passed the counter where the bananas were sitting, neglected and still uneaten, I noticed they were covered in those telltale brown spots, as if to say, "If you don't eat me or do something with me soon, I'm going to go bad." I fed one to Rylee later that day, but since I knew there was no way she and Jordan would eat 12 bananas in the next day or two, I decided it'd be best if I just went ahead and made some banana bread.
The Pioneer Woman has a great recipe for banana bread that I've made once before, so I pulled it out again, gathered all the necessary ingredients, and got to baking. Here's the recipe:


Banana Bread

Ingredients:
2 sticks butter, softened
1 1/2 cups + 2tbls. sugar
3 whole eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas
4 cups + 2tbls. flour
1tsp. baking soda
1 1/2tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 cups sour cream

Preparation/Baking Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and flour bundt pan.
Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, beating for a few seconds after each addition. Add mashed bananas and beat.
Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Add dry ingredients and sour cream alternately to the mixing bowl. Beat well until all combined.
Pour into bundt pan and bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Invert on a cooling rack and allow cake to cool slightly before slicing and serving.


Since I had 12 bananas I needed to use up, I ended up making this recipe THREE times. I made two batches in a bundt pan as the recipe instructs, but I decided to divide the last batch into an 8-slot mini-loaf pan, baked at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. It was enough to make 16 mini-loaves. I added chocolate chips to half of them. I haven't tried banana bread with chocolate chips before, but I've heard it's extra yummy, so we'll see how they turned out. Anyway, my house now smells like banana bread (which I don't mind at all), and my family and I will be eating on banana bread for a while, but that's okay, too, because... well... it's yummy. I'm also going to take some to church tomorrow morning to share with our Sunday school class... cause I'm just that sweet.
Anyway, that's all I have for now. I know I still have a TON of backtracking/updating to do, but I'll try to get back to that another day. Until next time...

16 mini-loaves of banana bread

one of the two batches of banana bread I made in the bundt pan