My trademark banana bread

My roommate and boyfriend know by now that if I'm baking something, about 85 percent of the time, it's a banana bread. This banana bread recipe-- adapted from an old Ukranian cookbook-- is just so good! When I make it, I feel compelled to eat it straight for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks until it has (all too soon) disappeared.

It's a very simple quick bread, flavorful and moist, and I think the combination of a few good shakes of cinnamon and very ripe bananas make it that way. I won't make this bread until the bananas are heavily speckled, or even slightly black. (That's how I like to eat them, too, so maybe it's just my preference.) Other than that, I don't think you can really go wrong here... Even the uncooked batter is amazing!

Banana Bread

1/2 cup melted butter, or oil

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 large bananas, mashed

cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, combine sugar and butter (or oil), and stir. Add in the flour and baking soda, and sift the baking soda into the flour first before stirring it all together. Add several shakes of cinnamon.

In a smaller bowl, peel and mash the bananas with a fork. I find that a finer mash creates a more moist and delicious bread. Add the bananas to the other mixture, and stir.

Pour batter into a greased and lightly floured bread pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes.

(Note: I have also added in chocolate chips to the batter in the past; it's good, but only for a dessert bread... It was too sweet and rich for me to carry on my tradition of eating the bread for every single meal!)