Warm and Toasty

In Seattle, summer is mostly over. As a nanny, I was often at work by 3:30 p.m. waiting for my older kids to get off the bus and walk the 1 block from the bus stop to the house. As Fall cooled the air and brought on the mist that Seattle is famous for. We kept warm and toasty with Twinnings English Breakfast tea, steeped to perfection, enhanced with a little dab of honey and milk and all sorts of warm baked goods. A few of our favorites were Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, Pumpkin Bread, Blueberry and Lemon Coffee Cake and the quintessential Chocolate Chip Cookies.

This morning as it drizzled here, I got a craving (yes another) for the banana bread I used to make for the kids. Over the years I have tried to sneak whole wheat flour into this recipe but it never tasted as good.

Here the recipe:

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
(makes 12 muffins or 1 large loaf)

3 mashed bananas
½ c. butter, softened
2 eggs, room temp.
1 C. sugar
2 C. flour, sifted
1 t. baking soda, sifted
1 t. vanilla
Pinch of salt
Dash of nutmeg
Handful of chocolate chips
Handful of chopped and toasted nuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Cream the butter and sugar, until the sugar crystals have all vanished.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla
4. Add bananas.
5. Add all the dry ingredients
6. Last but not least fold the chips and nuts into the batter.
7. For muffins, grease and flour muffin tins, tops edges too, in case of spillover and bake for 20-25 minutes. Check with a wooden toothpick or skewer.
8. For the loaf, pour batter into greased and floured loaf pan. Set oven racks to the middle position, bake for 1 hour-1 hour and 15 mins. If the top browns too much, cover with aluminum foil after 30-45 minutes.

Note: For this bread to be moist, it must not be overbaked. I check it with a wooden skewer and take it out of the oven when I see little crumbles on the skewer, not when it comes out clean. Leave the bread in the pan for 20 minutes to set and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Enjoy with a pat of sweet butter. Store in an airtight container or in plastic wrap.