Jarvis House Banana Bread

The best recipe for Banana Bread ever, was given to me in 1970, by the wife of another teacher. Her name was Mrs. Newton. It's a Back to Basics recipe, and a great comfort food.I always triple the recipe, so that banana bread can be given away to people passing through the Jarvis House. One of the side benefits of making this recipe, is that grocery stores always package up ripe fruit for a quick sale. They reduce the price of the bananas when brown spots appear. The bananas are turning ripe, really sweet, and are perfect for banana bread.Mash the peeled bananas in a large bowl and add six beaten eggs.
Add a cup of margarine, or butter.Add 2 cups of granulated sugar.Beat with an electric mixer, or whisk, until fluffy.Chop 1 1/2 cups walnuts and add to the mixture.
Beat again.Add 6 teaspoons of Baking Powder. This can has a clever opening, enabling you to level the teaspoon of powder.Add 3/4 teaspoon of Baking Soda. You can estimate this.Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt.Gradually add 4 cups of sifted unbleached all purpose flour.Oil the glass pans with vegetable oil, and spread oil with a pastry brush. Glass pans or pottery pans are best, but you can use very small aluminum pans. Then leave the bread in these tiny pans and slip onto a cellophane goodie bags for giving.Fill the bread pans 2/3 full with batter.Heat oven to 350 degrees and bake about one hour, or until a tooth pick comes out clean, depending on the size of the pan. Cool before removing bread from the pans. You can double this recipe and bake in a pan 9"x13". The banana bread when cut, will come out in squares which is perfect for whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.Wrap each bread in wax paper and aluminum foil, for freezing or gifting.Finish with a seasonal ribbon.Now you are ready for company or for visiting. Banana bread can be made without walnuts if someone is allergic to nuts. It travels well and can be mailed to college students, and can be made ahead and frozen.

Jarvis House Banana Bread (original single recipe)

Wet ingredients: two peeled & mashed ripe bananas
two eggs, beaten
1/3 cup soft margarine or butter
blend until fluffy the add
Dry ingredients:
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/3 cups unbleached sifted flour
1/2 chopped walnuts

Mix at medium speed for 3 minutes.

Oil loaf pan and spoon in mixture. Bake at 350 degres for about one hour or until a tooth pick comes out clean. Cool on a rack before attempting to remove from the pan. Wrap in waxed paper and aluminum foil for storage, freezing, or gifting. Tie with a seasonal ribbon.

Banana bread tastes the best with a hot cup of tea.