Banana Bread
Ohmygoodness, life has been a little hectic these past couple of weeks. In a totally good way, but hectic all the same. There's just been lots to do and I put cooking and blogging on the back burner (lame pun, I know). I've totally gotten off my blogging-once-a-week schedule as you can see, but I think you will like the reason why: I'm having Flavia's Flavors totally re-designed!
You may remember me talking about the re-design in this post way back in January (and how did we already get to July?!), and unlike my cooking and blogging efforts, the re-design has been moving full-steam ahead all year long. It's taking some time as the layout and details are still in the design phase, but we're in the "home stretch" and we'll soon be implementing everything into a new blogging platform and then re-launching my blog. I plan on making a big to-do about it!
There are two very special things about this re-design: the first is that it was a Christmas gift from Peter. The second is that I am working on the re-design with a former high school classmate--Claudia--with whom I recently reconnected on Facebook. Although Claudia and I didn't know each other very well in high school and didn't have many classes together, we have recently formed a lovely friendship and have discovered that we have a lot in common. Among our many shared interests are that we love traveling to Europe, we love to eat good food, we both speak Italian, and we both have a near-obsession with The Container Store. All of these things have us convinced that we were somehow separated at birth.
Claudia runs her own business as both a graphic designer and stationery designer. She is incredibly talented and she's going places, just you wait and see! I am having so much fun working on my blog's re-design with Claudia. Her design style is colorful, crisp and clean. If you follow Flavia's Flavors on Twitter, or are a fan of my blog's Facebook page, you will see the logo she created for me. It's exactly the "look" I was going for, and you'll see more of her graphic design talent once my blog re-launches.
In the meantime go make yourself a loaf of this banana bread and snack on it while you check out Claudia's websites: Figure A, and Figure 2 Design Studio, as well as her newly-launched blog, The Color Connoisseur. You'll be glad you did both of these things, I promise.
Banana Bread
Adapted from The Joy of Cooking
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
6 T. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, lightly toasted (optional)Lightly grease a loaf pan and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until lightened in color and fluffy in texture. Lower the mixer speed to medium-low and gradually add the flour mixture until all the ingredients are well-blended and resemble the texture of brown sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the eggs and mix until incorporated.
Using a rubber spatula, fold in the mashed banana and the nuts, if using. Make sure that all the ingredients are well incorporated.
Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan and spread evenly. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the banana bread cool in the loaf pan for about 15-20 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
Store at room temperature on a plate covered with plastic wrap.
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You are too kind Flavia! I'm really looking forward to finalizing your blog design this week. Hope everyone will check out your guest post on my blog!