Ingredients:
All ingredients should be room temperature.
Wet mix:
3 large extra ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup buttermilk/sour cream/plain yogurt
2 large eggs beaten
¾ cup dark brown sugar
4 tablespoons butter, softened
Dry mix:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ kosher teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup walnut/pecan, chopped, optional
¼ dried cranberries, optional
In a mixing bowl, mash 3 large very ripe bananas and add in 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, half cup of buttermilk, 2 beaten large eggs, mix well and set aside.
If you don’t have buttermilk at home, pour half cup of whole milk and half teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice and wait 5 -10 minutes for it to set/thicken.
In another mixing bowl, add 4 tablespoons of softened butter and about ¾ cup of dark brown sugar, use a stand mixer or hand mixer to fluff up the sugar butter mixture. Add the banana mix into the sugar butter mix, and make sure to combine them well.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In the third mixing bowl, we will sift and whisk all the dry ingredients, including 2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt.
Now, we will pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and add in your chopped walnut/pecan and dried cranberries, then fold the batter gently until all combined. At this step, make sure you don’t over stir the batter, to prevent the gluten from developing causing the cake to be too chewy.
Grease the parchment paper with butter and place in the loaf pan, and then pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Place some chopped walnut or pecan and sprinkle generous amounts of brown sugar on top of the batter.
Bake on the center rack for 1 hour. After 1 hour, remove the bread from oven and let it cool for a bit, and take the bread out and place on a cooling rack.
There you have it, cut it into THICK slices and enjoy your homemade banana walnut bread!