Comfort Food

Gil’s Accidentally Amazing Banana Bread

Makes 1 loaf, easily multiplied

What You Need

Ingredients
3/4 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

¼ cup of coconut oil
1 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
3 medium bananas, very ripe
¼ cup milk
1 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup chopped nuts or chocolate chips (optional)

Equipment
8x5-inch loaf pan
Parchment paper
Large bowl
Whisk or fork, if making by hand
Stand mixer or hand mixer, if not making by hand
Spatula

Instructions

1.     Heat the oven and prep the pan: Preheat the oven to 350°F with a oven rack in the bottom third of the oven. Line the loaf pan with butter and coat with flour. Old school y’all! → If using nuts, toast them in the oven for 10 minutes as the oven is pre-heating.

2.     Melt the butter: Melt the butter in the microwave or over low heat on the stovetop. →

3.     Combine the butter, Coconut oil, and sugar: Mix together with a wooden spoon the melted butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until combined. (Or cream in a mixer until fluffy.)

4.     Add the eggs: Crack the eggs into the bowl. Stir until completely combined and the mixture is smooth.

5.     Add the milk and vanilla: Stir the milk and vanilla into the batter.

6.     Mash in the bananas: Peel the bananas and add them to the bowl. Using the end of the whisk or a dinner fork, mash them into the batter. Leave the bananas as chunky (go sort of chunky) or as smooth as you prefer. If you prefer an entirely smooth banana bread (lame), mash the bananas separately until no more lumps remain, and then whisk them into the batter.

7.     Add the flour, baking soda, and salt: Measure the flour, baking soda, and salt into the bowl. Switch to using a spatula and gently stir until the ingredients are just barely combined and no more dry flour is visible. 

8.     Fold in the nuts or chocolate, if using: Last but not least, scatter the nuts or chocolate over the batter and gently fold them in. 

9.     Pour the batter into the pan: Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, using the spatula to scrape all the batter from the bowl. Smooth the top of the batter.

10.  Bake for 55 to 65 minutes: Place the pan in the oven. Bake until the top of the cake is caramelized dark brown with some yellow interior peeking through and a tooth pick or cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean. Baking time will vary slightly depending on the moisture and sugar content of your bananas — start checking around 50 minutes and then every 5 minutes after. I’ve done it in two ovens and for me, 55 is the magic number. 

11.  Cool in the pan for 10 minutes: Set the loaf, still in the pan, on a cooling rack. Let it cool for 10 minutes — this helps the loaf solidify and makes it easier to remove from the pan.

12.  Remove from pan and cool another 10 minutes: Dump onto foil, then wrap, slice, do whatever you want with it. Leftover bread can be kept, covered, at room temperature for several days or wrapped in foil and frozen for up to 3 months.

Recipe Notes:

• Banana Muffins: To make muffins, line a muffin tin with liners and fill each cup to roughly 3/4 full. Makes 8 to 10 muffins.

Classic Biscuits

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2-1ish teaspoons of thick ground sea salt
1/2 cup of butter
3/4 cups of milk
1/2 cup of fresh basil leaf
1/2 cup of finely chopped green onion
1 1/2 teaspoon of paprika (or to taste)

1. Combine flour, salt, basil, paprika, green onions and baking powder into bowl. Start preheating oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Cut in butter (don't melt it) and mix until it resembles thick bread crumbs. I like keeping in large chunks of butter.
3. Slowly add milk, mixing as you go.
4. Roll out dough onto bed of flour until about 3/4 inch to an inch thick. Cut out shapes and put them on a baking sheet.

5. Bake at 450 until golden brown. Serve with biscuits and gravy, jelly, or just with butter.