It likely comes as no surprise that many fond memories of childhood sports center around food. From the orange slices at half time, to the post game treats, to the end-of-season celebrations, food visions rival the victories, the losses, the nail biters.
When I think of soccer season, I especially remember one thing: Valentina’s brownies and rice crispy treats. Valentina, a tall, striking Venezuelan, never missed a game and always arrived with big smiles, huge hugs and loads of treats, the perfect antidote for a colossal whopping. I would share the recipes with you all — I tried to get them about a year ago — but Valentina swears she always just “followed the recipe on the box.” Likely story, Valentina. Her brownies and rice crispy treats were legendary.
When I think of lacrosse season, again, I especially remember another surrogate mother, Mrs. Myers, and again, her treats. Mrs. Myers’ banana bread was moist, perfectly sweet, and always first to disappear from the dessert buffet — I looked forward to it before the games even started. Midseason I remember even devising a post-game-buffet plan of attack, hitting up the dessert table first, tucking slices of banana bread under a napkin, sometimes stashing them in my bag for later. What can I say? This stuff was gold.
I was lucky enough to obtain Mrs. Myers’ recipe from her daughter, a dear friend with whom I spent many hours in the kitchen, mostly baking, always some sort of biscotti, often cinnamon flavored with chocolate chips. I’ve been making this banana bread for about 10 years now, and it never fails to please, kids and adults alike.
I can’t wait to assume the role as soccer mom. With this recipe on hand, I’m destined to become a legend, too.
Mrs. Myers’ Banana Bread
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Prep Time: 10 minutes -
Cook Time: 1 hours
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Total Time: 1 hours 10 minutes
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Yield: 2
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
Overripe bananas freeze beautifully — just peel them and place them in a ziplock back in the freezer. When you’re ready to use them, place them in a colander in the sink to drain — they’ll give up a lot of liquid and look totally repulsive, but they work beautifully. To make homemade buttermilk: place 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup. Fill cup with milk until it reaches the 1-cup line. Let stand for five minutes. Use only 1/2 cup of the prepared mixture for the recipe. You could try making a half recipe, of course, so you don’t have 1/2 cup leftover buttermilk.
Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 3 cups sifted flour (I never sift)
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. table salt
- 5 eggs (I use 4)
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 cup nuts (I never add nuts)
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 quart mashed bananas, about 8 (ripe to overripe)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter two loaf pans. (I butter generously.)
- In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
- With the mixer on low, add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add the vanilla, buttermilk and bananas.
- Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Divide batter between the two prepared pans. Bake for approximately 1 hour.
- Remove from oven and turn loaves out onto cooling rack immediately. Let cool.
Leong Wun Han says
Will it rise if no baking powder is used?
alexandra says
No, you need the baking soda for it to rise. Otherwise it will be super dense.
Doran Richart says
Looks like I found a new banana bread recipe! Love the addition of buttermilk. I made 6 mini loaves using 4 eggs and adding 1 cup of toasted walnuts. I baked them for 40-45 minutes. Delicious and EASY! Thanks Alexandra!?
alexandra says
Yay!! So happy to hear this, Doran!
Leong Wun Han says
Any different between banana cake and banana bread. Pls advisr Thanks
alexandra says
This banana bread is moist and dense — it’s closer to a cake than a bread you would make sandwiches with or toast, etc.
Bunny Peters says
This recipe looks wonderful!!! I want to try it as muffins for my quilt club. I plan to share this recipe with family in Singapore and Taiwan.
I have a few questions that I hope you can help me resolve.
I use coconut sugar and dark brown sugar interchangeably. I also use pandan essence instead of vanilla essence. I am certain these substitutions shouldn’t affect the recipe…..
I don’t stock dairy milk in my kitchen so I was wondering if I could use coconut milk instead of the dairy milk?
Could I add cashews right before baking?
Please advise. Thank you very much for your help.
alexandra says
Hi Bunny,
Sorry for the delay here! It sounds as though you’ve had success using coconut sugar and pandas essence, so I don’t think these should affect the outcome. And I think coconut milk should be fine bc i’ve actually made it without the buttermilk, and it came out fine — it’s just 1/2 cup, and there is a lot of batter. Yes to cashews! Yum.
Kim says
Baking powder is not listed in the recipe how much would be addd and when?
alexandra says
No baking powder! Only baking soda. Quantity listed. Good luck! I LOVE this recipe 🙂
Weezy says
What size bread pans did you use?
alexandra says
Hi Weezy, sorry for the delay! I use standard 8.5 x 4.5-inch pans but anything similar (9×5 for instance) will work well.
Weezy says
This is THE BEST banana bread I have tried. I looked for while and tried several, and this is the ONLY one I will ever make.from now on. My husband loved it. Thanks!
alexandra says
So happy to hear this, Weezy!
Corina says
This banana bread comes out beautifully and it tastes exactly like I imagined banana bread should taste (growing up in Eastern Europe, we didn’t eat a lot of bananas, and never heard about banana bread)
Since finding this recipe, I have made it more than 10 times: plain or with raisins, with nuts and sometimes with chocolate chips. When I needed something fast, I even made it using a tablet (100gr.) milk and hazelnuts chocolate that I had on hand and halved the ingredients. I ended up with a perfect loaf of freshly baked goodness and needless to say it has always been a success.
I don’t usually comment on recipes I find online, either if I like them or not, because very seldom I cook them twice. This time I feel like it is my duty to comment and praise this Banana bread. I never cooked banana bread before finding this recipe and I will never make it in a different way. Thank you!
Masa says
Hi, can I use sour cream instead of butter milk ?
Meryl Freedman says
Hi,
I am assuming I can freeze the second banana bread with no damage to the quality – am I correct?
Thanks so much
Christina says
Hi! I made this bread tonight and the flavor is so so delicious. It was extremely wet though and a cake tester was still coming out wet after an hour and 45 minutes! The outside all the way around was pretty dark but the inside still wet. I followed the recipe exactly—used 4 x-large eggs and the full 4 cups of ripe/overripe bananas mashed! Anyone else have this issue or just me? Thank you!
alexandra says
Hi Christina! This is definitely a very wet/heavy batter, and I have had the same experience as you. One tip: You can divide the batter into 3 loaf pans, which makes for shorter loaves, but they still turn out deliciously, and they bake a bit more evenly. Also, just be sure to bake it long enough — it’s forgiving, so erring on the side of over-baking is best, and you can turn the oven temp down to prevent over-browning. Hope this helps!
Vanessa says
Can I make this as cupcakes?
Karen says
The flavor is amazing! I made this recipe with slight modification. I used 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup of regular sugar, instead of 2 cups of regular sugar. Instead of two loaves, I made 1 loaf and the other half in cupcakes (1 dozen). They were both ready within 40-45 minutes. Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe, I’ve been searching for a while and I think I found the perfect one! Thank you so much!!
alexandra says
Yay!! So happy to hear this, Karen!