By Toni Okamoto
When my friend Aaron moved to Seattle, WA a few years back, we kept in touch through snail mail. He typed up his grandmother’s banana bread recipe on his typewriter, mailed it to me and I’ve made it about 100 times since. It’s seriously the best! It’s fun to make it with kids, and super delicious with breakfast tea in the morning
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do and many thanks to Aaron and his grandma for sharing this recipe.
Ingredients:
- 1/3 c non-dairy margarine, softened
- 1/2 c sugar
- 1/2 c applesauce
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1-3/4 c of flour
- 2 ripe bananas
- 1 cup chocolate chips, optional
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, mix the non-dairy margarine and sugar. Make sure to beat until fluffy. Add the applesauce and mix well. Stir in the baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mush the bananas together, making sure to break up all the dense parts until it becomes a gooey dough. Add the flour and bananas alternately, starting with the flour. Mix each time so the flour is mixed. Add the chocolate chips if using. Spoon into the bread pan. Bake for one hour.
This didn’t come out right at all – the bottom half of the loaf was solid and unbaked. It would be better if you indicated the volume of mashed bananas (eg, 1 cup) rather than just the number of bananas, since they can vary a great deal in size. I’m wondering if there was too much banana in the mix for mine. A waste of time and money.
I tested this recipe after seeing your comment and my loaf came out OK. I think you made a good point by suggesting the specific amount of banana that is needed instead of listing the number of bananas. When I made the recipe recently, I used 2 medium-sized bananas. I will see what I can do about adjusting the recipe. Thank you for your feedback.
Is there an alternative flour? Or margarine thank you in advance
Hi Beth,
I apologize for the late reply to your comment! Regular all-purpose flour is going to work the best for this recipe. If you’re looking for a gluten-free version, I’d recommend buying an all-purpose gluten-free flour mix, which can usually be found at any chain grocery store.
I also think sticking to a non-dairy margarine, such as Earth Balance or Smart Balance, is going to produce the best results.
I hope this helps! Thank you for your questions
This didn’t come out right at all lol the bread did not rise. I used two big bananas I don’t know what I did wrong. It still tastes ok it’s just mushy.