Golden Banana Bread with Walnuts
A beautifully moist banana bread made with ripe bananas, real butter and crunchy walnuts. Golden on the outside, soft and tender inside, and delicious any time of day.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, salted If using unsalted butter, add 1/4 tsp salt to dry ingredients.
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup ripe bananas, mashed Approximately 3 - 4 bananas.
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup greek yogurt (Optional)
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 2 cups flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup walnuts
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Butter should be softened at room temperature to allow it to mix properly.
- In a separate bowl, beat eggs until light. Add to sugar mixture.
- Mash bananas and add lemon juice. Blend with creamed mixture.
- Sift flour, baking powder and salt (omit if using salted butter) and mix with banana mixture.
- Mix together until just combined.
- Add walnuts.
- Bake in greased loaf pan (or lined with parchment paper).
- Bake at 375C for 1 1/4 hours.
Notes
The riper the bananas, the better. Look for bananas with plenty of brown spots. They're naturally sweeter, softer and full of banana flavour.
Greek yogurt is optional. I sometimes add a little plain Greek yogurt for extra moisture and a tender crumb, but the recipe is delicious without it.
Don't overmix the batter. Once the flour goes in, fold gently until just combined. This helps keep the loaf soft and tender.
Swap the walnuts for chocolate chips. For a sweeter variation, replace the walnuts with an equal amount of chocolate chips. Dark or semi-sweet chocolate works beautifully with the ripe bananas, adding little pockets of melted chocolate throughout the loaf.
Make it ahead. Banana bread keeps well in an airtight container at room temperature for approximately 2 days, or refrigerated for up to 5 days. It also freezes beautifully. Slice the cooled loaf before freezing so you can take out a piece whenever you like.