The Best Banana Bread

Nothing fancy... just very moist, delicious banana bread. It was important to me to blog about this recipe because I went through a lot of mediocre banana bread recipes before I found it and Justin and Mabry both love it. I previously used a recipe that I thought was quite good; but Justin remembered making a wonderful banana bread with his dad that included sour cream. I finally found a recipe that lived up to the bread in Justin's memory on a recipe message board. The person who posted it said that one of his coworkers brought it into work regularly and that the office referred to it as "crack" bread. Whenever I want to bake some I just google "crack banana bread". I figure that posting it here will be a safer way to ensure that Mabry and I can always bake it!

The Best Banana Bread (aka Crack Bread)

1/4 lb (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp
1 C sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 C unbleached all-purpose flour (I usually use half wheat flour and through in a few T of ground flax to make it a bit healthier)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 C mashed very ripe bananas (I fill a glass measuring cup a bit above the 1 cup line)
1/2 C sour cream (this is the "crack")
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 C chopped toasted walnuts or pecans
about 1/4 t cinnamon or allspice (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter a 9x5x3 loaf pan or several smaller pans.
With electric mixer, cream butter and sugar til light and fluffy. Add eggs,
beating well. Sift dry ingredients together and combine with butter mixture.
Blend well. Add bananas, sour cream "crack" & vanilla. Stir well. Stir in
the nuts and pour into the prepared pan.

Bake 1 hour, until cake tester comes out clean. Turn out onto rack to cool.

Mabry enjoying the green tea we used as a prop.