Cooking Light’s Better Banana Bread

This is a great banana bread recipe. It is the one recipe that my husband’s bakes! He makes banana muffins about once a week, and not just because he can’t stand to throw away the brown bananas. This recipe was in Cooking Light in 1993 and we have been baking it ever since. It is a very forgiving recipe and he never measures the banana, and substitutes whatever we have on hand, light sour cream or flavored yogurt, and they always turn out delicious.

Banana-Nut Bread (Muffins)

1 cup mashed very ripe banana (about 3 small)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt (we usually use low fat sour cream)
1/4 cup margarine, melted (we usually use butter)
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted (we usually add walnuts and/or Craisins, then sprinkle the tops with sugar in the raw)

Combine first 7 ingredients in a large bowl; beat at medium speed of an electric mixer until well blended. Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; Add flour mixture to banana mixture, add nuts, stirring just until moistened. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 3-inch loaf pan coated with baking spray with flour. Bake at 350º for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan, and cool completely on a wire rack. Bake mini loaves for 35 minutes or muffins for 18 minutes.

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