Best Ever Banana Bread -- The Recipe I Wrote Down to Be Sure

I looked up the community college. Calhoun Community College has an early childhood education program and there are online options for some of the classes. A certificate program, not a full degree, would take about a year and a half part-time. The tuition is something I could manage with financial aid and a payment plan. I downloaded the application and looked at it for three days before filling it out.

Filed it Friday. I do not know what will happen. But I filed it.

This week in the kitchen I made a peach cobbler because Georgia peaches are in season and the grocery store had them perfect, the kind where the skin slips off easily and the flesh is deep orange and dripping. I have not made cobbler before, on my own I mean. Gloria makes it with a drop biscuit topping, not a pastry crust, and I have her recipe from memory mostly but I wrote it down this week to be sure. Brown sugar on the peaches first to draw out juice. Biscuit dough dropped over the top in lumps. Bake until the dough is golden and the peach juices are bubbling at the edges.

It was very good. Better than I expected. The biscuit topping was lighter than I feared, not dense at all, and the peaches underneath had melted into something syrupy and thick. I took half of it to Gloria on Sunday and she tasted it and said you made this. I said I did. She said yes you did. The pride in her voice was not about the cobbler exactly. I know that.

James asked for the recipe. I said it is her recipe. He said it does not taste the same when she makes it and I laughed so hard I spilled my sweet tea.

Writing things down so you are sure —that’s what this week has been about for me, in more ways than one. I filled out an application I had been putting off, and I wrote down Gloria’s cobbler recipe so I wouldn’t lose it. There’s something grounding about putting a recipe on paper, making it yours in a way that feels official. This banana bread is that kind of recipe for me now — simple enough to make from memory eventually, but worth writing down first, every step, so you can come back to it and know it will be right.

Best Ever Banana Bread

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 60 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes | Servings: 10 slices

Ingredients

• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Instructions

1. Preheat and prep. Heat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan lightly with butter or nonstick spray.
2. Mash the bananas. In a large mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas thoroughly with a fork until only small lumps remain. The riper the bananas, the sweeter and more flavorful your bread will be.
3. Add wet ingredients. Stir the melted butter into the mashed bananas. Mix in the sugar, beaten egg, and vanilla extract until fully combined.
4. Add leavening. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and stir to incorporate.
5. Fold in the flour. Add the flour all at once and fold gently until just combined. Do not overmix — a few small lumps in the batter are fine and will keep the loaf tender.
6. Bake. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the top is deep golden brown.
7. Cool before slicing. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack. Wait at least 20 more minutes before slicing so the interior can set properly.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 210 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 7g | Carbs: 36g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 180mg