Practically everyone has a recipe for banana bread. Right? And, Trader Joe’s has a pretty good box mix, if you’re in a pinch.  But if you’ve ever tasted the banana bread at Starbuck’s . . . yum! It’s in its own category. Seriously banana-y and filled with walnuts.  Delicious and addictive and pricey by the slice.
 
Well, I think I have come close to making it.  I have some picky testers in my house.  But they have both given me the ‘thumbs up’ so I wanted to post my recipe and share.
 
My secret — taking the ripe, spotty bananas and mashing them in a saucepan with 1/2 cup of sugar and slowly cooking them so the flavor intensifies.  About 10 minutes.  But don’t let them boil! My recipe for the bread is below.

Here's my recipe:
 
Ingredients:
 
2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
One egg
3/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
One stick of unsalted butter (melted and cooled)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
A few shakes of nutmeg
Two ripe, spotty bananas
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup halved walnuts
 
Directions:

1. Mash ripe bananas in saucepan over medium heat. Add 1/2 cup sugar. Stir, stir, stir. Let it melt together over medium heat for about ten minutes. But don’t let it boil!
2. In another saucepan melt the stick of unsalted butter. Remove from heat and let it cool a bit.
3. In a mixing bowl mix all dry ingredients. While mixer is going, add egg, melted and cooled butter, vanilla, and banana mixture. Mix for about thirty seconds. Add the 1/2 cup of walnuts. Mix gently.
4. Pour mixture into bread pan that has been greased.
5. Bake at 350 °F for about thirty to forty minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle can come out clean.
6. Flip onto a rack and cool before cutting. Yum!