Mom's Banana Bread

This recipe is classic in my family. 

The only banana bread we would think of making. 

Reading it makes me think of the delicious warm banana-y moist cake-like bread on my taste buds. 

Sure, banana-y is a word. 

Here's the recipe page that my mom sent me when I asked her for it. You can tell that it is loved. Those black spots in the corner? Probably butter, or bananas, or who knows what else.

This is one of those recipes that the book falls open to. 

I'm not sure what the book is, but since all of the recipes seem to be by nurses it is most likely from my grandmother or great grandmother, who both actually worked in hospitals. 

I never really knew my great grandmother, but my mom reminisces about her so frequently that I feel like I did. And, I feel oddly connected to this woman who is actually just a second-hand memory for me. 

That could be because my mom is always making connections between the two of us: she was a nurse, I'm going to be a nurse (along with hundreds of thousands of others..), we both cannot bake a thing in the kitchen without using every dish in the house, and the fact that we both love(d) to bake so much.  

My great grandmother surely baked with more butter than I do, but I am trying to overcome my mom's many years of forcing margarine down my throat. 

This recipe, though, is an exception. 

You must use shortening. 

I'm going to repeat that in case you missed it. 

You must use shortening!

I promise you will thank me. 

In case you can't make out the recipe here it is:

Mom's Banana Bread

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 cup mashed banana (about 2 bananas)

2 eggs

Cream shortening, add sugar, beat well. 

Blend in eggs, blend in dry ingredients.

Add mashed bananas. 

Bake in 9x5x3 pan at 300 F for 50-60 minutes. 

This is where preference plays in. See that beautiful split in the middle that doesn't look quite as brown?

My mom always thought that risking salmonella was worth the thin layer of dough that she left uncooked on the top of the loaf, and I have to say I wouldn't have it any other way. 

But whether you want to take this risk or not is completely up to you...