Best Ever Gluten-Free Banana Bread

The past couple of weeks, I've been quite caught up in working with my friend Rita Golden Gelman and her non-profit organization Let's Get Global - an awesome movement to spread the Gap Year mentality, inspiring it to become a cultural norm, a popular practice to send kids between high school and starting college abroad to have cross-cultural experiences.

My husband and I have also been in the midst of showing our home and negotiating the sale of our property. We have an offer and should know sometime today, if the potential buyer has accepted our counter offer.

I said all that to say that my/our cooking has been of a rather minimalist nature. My husband has been great about fixing us some simply delicious meals.

My daughter, Effie, is baking up a batch in the kitchen again - this time making the best-ever banana bread (really), and wonder of wonders it's also gluten-free! Effie shares her recipe, her photo and writes:

"I'll be making up a GF loaf for this weekend...but here is the recipe and picture for your blog!

From "The Big Book of Breakfast" pg. 292 (printed in 2003)


Banana Bread

Use very ripe bananas to make this moist bread. Serve as a side bread for breakfast or with afternoon coffee or tea. It is best made a day before serving. This bread also freezes well.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup melted butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 to 1-1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (3 or 4)
1/3 cup water
1-2/3 cups all-purpose flour (or substitute rice flour to make GF)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans or other nuts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar. Add eggs, bananas, and water and beat for 30 seconds. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix until blended. Stir in nuts.
2. Pour mixture into a lightly sprayed or oiled 4-1/2-by-8-1/2-by-2-1/2-inch loaf pan. (Makes 1 loaf.)
3. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes. (I baked for 55 and may reduce time to 50 so as not to over-brown the crust.) Cool in pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around edges and remove bread from pan. When cool, wrap in foil to store.

Thanks again, Effie! Looking forward to your next batch with all those bananas in your kitchen ripening and getting sweeter as I write!