Mrs. Loobner’s Banana Bread

Who can forget Gilda Radner’s characters? And didn’t almost all of us know a Mrs. Loobner, of banana bread fame? The banana bread thing on TV seems to live on—like when Sheldon knocks on Penny’s door, decades later, and offers her a loaf of banana bread as a conversation starter. Banana bread, warm from the oven, is still a nice slice of comfort food. Here’s a nice basic recipe—a full size loaf or a smaller loaf (measurements in parenthesis)—just the thing for a tea break.

Mrs. Loobner’s Banana Bread
• Regular loaf—5 X 9 loaf pan (Small loaf—4 X 8 loaf pan)
• 4 tblsp butter, room temperature—(2 tblsp butter, room temperature)
• ¾ cup sugar (3/8 cup sugar)
• 2 eggs (1 egg)
• 1 ½ cups flour (3/4 cups flour)
• ½ tsp baking soda (1/4 tsp baking soda)
• 1 tsp baking powder (1/2 tsp baking powder)
• 2 really ripe bananas, mashed (1 banana mashed)

Thoroughly mix and beat butter and sugar; add egg(s) and continue beating. Whisk flour, baking soda and baking powder in separate bowl; mash banana(s) in small dish. Alternately add flour and mashed banana to sugar/butter/egg mixture, beating briefly after each addition.

Heat oven to 350’—heavily butter loaf pan, and also line with parchment paper if desired. Bake at 350’ for about 35 minutes—(25 minutes for smaller loaf). Bread is done when top cracks and a toothpick comes out clean.

The Kitchen Hive