Banana Bread Redux

Greetings once again from Kathy's kitchen.

Came home to a quiet house this evening. Since I was the only one home, there was no need to rush to get dinner made (well . . . except meals for Ozzy the dog and Scotch the cat)! Plus I've had some really, really ripe bananas sitting on the counter for a couple days -- just calling to me "Make banana bread!! Boy we'd love to be made into banana bread! Banana bread would be really great right now." Nothing like passive-aggressive bananas!

Out came Three Sisters Bake and on went the oven.

This time I actually had caster sugar to use in the recipe. I had picked up a small bag at a local gourmet shop (A Southern Season) and then ordered a big thing of it from Amazon. So I'm set with caster sugar for awhile. The deal with caster sugar is that it is SUPER fine. I looked it up on the "O Chef" website and found that the name caster sugar hails from Britain. The grains are small enough to fit through a sugar "caster" or sprinkler. It's "fineness" allows it to dissolve quickly in liquid. It's sold in the US as "superfine" sugar. If you feel so inclined to make your own caster sugar, you can just put some granulated sugar into a food processor for a bit.

So that's your cooking lesson for today!

I went ahead with my standard banana bread add-ins: chocolate chips and walnuts. Didn't measure. Just dumped them in until it looked right. Instead of using my great-grandmother's loaf pan as I did the first time I made this bread, I used a regular garden-variety loaf pan that I purchased through King Arthur Flour. I had a lot of dough -- so I made a wee banana bread to go with the regular sized one.

As of the writing of this entry, the small bread is gone! My son came home just after it came out of the oven and commented how great the kitchen smelled - so of course I cut a piece for him. He said it was delicious - like he couldn't believe how great it was! I think he had thirds. I'll admit to having seconds with a cup of peppermint tea (decaf). A wonderful evening treat.

Even though we've already reviewed this recipe, I wanted to write about it again. It's a great go-to banana bread that will make a great impression on whoever is lucky enough to get a piece. And, even though I did use the caster sugar this time, it was just as delicious the first go round with regular granulated sugar. I'm trying to think of some other add-ins that might be fun. Maybe blueberries? Berry season will be here before you know it!

Until next time, BAKE ON my sweets!!