Banana Crumb Bread

I called Hubby at work to talk about a potential Christmas gift for our kids & heard his partner & captain yelling in the background, trying to talk to me over the phone. They're getting spoiled. I often bake treats and deliver a plate to the station, just to get them out of the house. The yelling was a request - for Banana Bread! So, of course I'm a sucker for requests so I hopped into the kitchen and went to work. Lucky for them I had some fairly ripe bananas on the counters waiting for me to turn them into something great!

Ingredients:


Bananas, walnuts (optional), milk, egg, margarine, baking soda, baking powder, salt, flour & sugar.

First step is to cream together the margarine & sugar.


Then add the egg & blend again.

Get your bananas all mashed up.


Add it to the mix & blend it well.


Now mix the flour, baking powder, soda & salt in a bowl. Add it to the batter.


Next stpe is to add in your milk & nuts. Do you have one of these? A food chopper? They are great. I love mine. They work for dicing up SO many things, from nuts to veggies to cooked bacon - anything you need a dice on. Depending on the number of hits you can get a finer dice. Also great for a frustrating day when you just need to hit something!! LOL


Spray your loaf pan with some PAM & pour in your batter.


Now, you can just pop it into the oven at this step, if that's your style. But... I'm an over achiever so we're taking it a little further! Grab a couple more ingredients - we're making a crumb topping! Flour, cinnamon, butter & brown sugar.


Mix your flour, sugar & cinnamon in a small bowl & mash in the butter. Keep going until it looks kinda like cornmeal. Coarse crumbs.


Throw it down over the top of your bread & it's ready to pop into the oven!


It bakes at 350 for an hour. Check on it about half way & then again about 3/4 through. Make sure the edges and/or crumb topping aren't burning. If they're looking more done then the est of the loaf just wrap some foil around the top edge of the pan. Be careful, though! It's a hot pan!!


...... and here she is! Sniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiifffff! Can you smell it!?


Want some!? You're gonna have to make it!!! HAHA!!

Banana Crumb Bread:

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup margarine
1 egg
1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 medium/large ripe bananas)
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
5 Tbsp milk
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Topping:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp butter

In a large bowl cream together the butter & sugar. Add egg & mix well. Add bananas; mix. Sift together the flour, baking powder, soda & salt. Add to the batter. Stir in milk & nuts. Pour into greased loaf pan.

In a small bowl mix brown sugar, flour & cinnamon. Using a fork, mash in the butter. Mix until it comes together like coarse crumbs - like cornmeal. Sprinkle on top of batter.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour, checking the top crust for burning periodically. If it's getting too dark tent it with foil. It's done when a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.