Banana Nut Bread

Top notch. Those are the words Jeremiah used to describe this banana bread when he tried it after I first made this recipe. He’s a bit of a food snob, and an excellent cook himself, so this is high praise indeed coming from him. Especially since I’ve made many, many loaves of banana bread during our time together, most of which turned out pretty good, and he’s never lavished them with such a title. But he’s right, I don’t know why this hasn’t been my go-to recipe all along, because it really is top-notch. This recipe comes from Eila Anderson Williams (1913-1991), and my grandmother, Ann Williams Stephens, notes that it is the one she always uses as well. Now I understand why. I guess it serves me right for trusting internet recipes over my great-grandmother’s all those years.

Eila grew up in Ogden, UT, back when the Railroad was King. Her father worked as a superintendent for Union Pacific Laundry, and in her personal history, she recalled that he always took their family’s laundry to work to be washed there, so they rarely had to do their own laundry growing up. She said that once, her sisters, Emma and Lola, told the neighbor that their dad did their washing and the lady said, “Oh that poor man, as hard as he works and then has to come home and do the family wash.” (Ha-ha.) Emma noted that because of this, she didn’t know much about washing when she got married.

Because her father worked for the railroad, their family got free passes on the train, so in the summer she and her sisters would take the train down to Mount Pleasant to stay and help on their grandparents’ (the Brunos) farm in Moroni, UT. There, they would help work in the fields, thinning sugar beets and tramping hay, as well as helping with work on the farm. For fun, they would go swimming in the creek that ran through their grandparents’ property.

Eila graduated from high school during the Depression, but she found work picking beans, and later in a canning factory. Then, after taking a class on power sewing machines, she got a job as a seamstress sewing overalls. After she got married to my grandfather, John Merl Williams, they ran a newspaper route together, which covered several cities in the area and kept them very busy. They quit the paper route just in time to adopt their daughter (my grandmother), Ann.

All, in all, it’s clear that Eila learned the meaning of hard work from a young age, and she kept this work ethic throughout her life. Not only that, but she somehow found time to BAKE in addition to everything else. And oh, I’m so glad she did.

Here’s the recipe. My only alterations were to replace the shortening called for with butter, and to add a little vanilla.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease a large loaf pan (or for a real treat, butter the pan and lightly dust with sugar).

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, until light. Using a spatula, scrape bottom and sides of bowl, then beat again.

Mash bananas (I like to use a potato ricer for this), then add them to the creamed mixture. In a small dish, combine milk and lemon juice, let stand for about 30 seconds to sour the milk, then add to creamed mixture along with banana. Mix well.

In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients, then add nuts, folding once to coat. Add to wet ingredients, mixing just until combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan, put it in the oven, close the door, and REDUCE THE HEAT to 350 degrees. (The extra burst of heat at the beginning seems to help quick breads rise taller.) Bake for about 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted near the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Let cool in pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

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This is one of those breads that is amazing eaten the first day, but somehow gets even more amazing on the second day. I especially love to toast a slice (which makes the nuts really shine) and top it off with a schmear of butter or cream cheese. YUM!

Variation – Chocolate Chip Banana Bread: Substitute 1 cup chocolate chips for the nuts.