Mrs. Myers’ sweet and moist banana bread

Author c/o Alexandra Stafford from “Alexandra’s Kitchen”

Overripe bananas freeze beautifully — just peel them and place them in a ziplock bag in the freezer. When you’re ready to use them, place them in a colander in the sink to drain — they’ll give up a lot of liquid and look totally repulsive, but they work beautifully.

To make homemade buttermilk: place 2 teaspoons of vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup. Fill cup with milk until it reaches the 1/2-cup line. Let stand for five minutes.

Loaf Pans: I use a 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pan for this recipe. You need two pans for this recipe.

Yield 2

2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, softened
3 cups sifted flour (I never sift)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. table salt
5 eggs (I use 4)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup nuts (I never add nuts)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 quart mashed bananas, about 8 (ripe to overripe)

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Butter two loaf pans. (I butter generously.)
In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
With the mixer on low, add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add the vanilla, buttermilk and bananas.
Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Divide batter between the two prepared pans. Bake for approximately 1 hour.
Remove from oven and turn loaves out onto cooling rack immediately.
Let cool.