Banana Loaf with Cashews

It has come to my attention that the last time I shared a recipe on the blog was in the middle of summer. That is not acceptable in my book in anyway so I have done what I had to do to fix it. After evening class, I drank my third cup of coffee to unwind in our messier-than-usual kitchen and bake.

Just a few weeks ago, Ron's dad got us a tub of (extra fancy) unsalted cashews from Costco and after seeing the super old and sad bananas in the fridge that I have been saving for a day when I would feel like baking, I felt responsible about not letting the bananas go to waste. So here I am now.

Drenching the cashews with the batter was my favorite part. Just look at this beautiful confusion-filled chaos.

My search for the recipe was not at all far and wide, it was one of the first recipes on Google. I was a little surprised but maybe it's because people usually use walnuts in their banana bread? This recipe is fairly easy and delicious. Ron wanted it to be just a tad bit sweeter but I think it's a perfect match to a sweet cup of coffee or tea with sweet creamer. :) Keep scrolling, I promise you, you're almost at the recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter (or margarine)
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup mashed banana (I used 3)
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped cashews

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a 9x5 loaf pan by buttering and flouting it.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder and soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, one at a time, continuing to beat followed by the vanilla and mashed bananas. Gradually mix in the dry mixture, Be careful not to overmix -- stop mixing when ingredients appear to be well-incorporated.
4. Fold in chopped cashews.
5. Pour batter into the pan. Bake for one hour or until tests clean with a toothpick.

After baking, I let the loaf cool down on a wire rack for 10 minutes before I took it out and let it cool down outside of the pan. When it was cold enough for me (it was still a little warm), I put it on my favorite platter and sliced it because Ron wanted to try it already. LOL