Bananas go brown too soon? I got you, boo.

INGREDIENTS

4 tablespoons butter

1 cup dark brown sugar

2 large eggs

3 tsp vanilla extract

4 medium bananas (good and ripe!)

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour (may sub GF! King Arthur Measure-for-Measure works)

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1/3 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, optional

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

1/2 pumpkin pie spice (or even ground clove)

1/2 tsp salt

Optional— nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, or a splash of whiskey (or banana liqueur if you have it on hand!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blend together sugar and softened butter. Add eggs, vanilla. Mash the bananas in with a potato masher. Add the rest of the dry ingredients. Put parchment paper in a greased loaf pan, let it hang over the sides to lift the bread out when it’s done baking. Add batter. Sprinkle the top of the loaf with demarera sugar or plain white sugar. Bake for 55-60 minutes and double check it’s done using the ol’ toothpick trick.

Serve with butter (or if you’re feeling fancy, make salted maple butter by mixing together a stick of butter and a few tablespoons of maple syrup with a sprinkle of salt). OR, you can try this with cream cheese! The banana bread is best when slightly warmed.

I highly recommend this pan, which makes 4 small loafs (perfect for sharing with friends!) instead of one large loaf. This recipe is the perfect size for this pan.