I'm Sorry We Have No Bananas

If you haven't guessed by now, I am a chef by necessity. When I have food laying around I imagine what I can make with it before it goes bad. This necessitates my need to cook. I was getting tired of looking at the bananas on my counter turn black. CityBaby just came out of a banana phase. While banana daiquiris came to mind, I thought banana bread would appeal more to the masses. I found an easy and delicious recipe on food52.com, a fairly new cooking site. (Side note: cookstr is also another great resource although it is still in its beta stage.)

Here's the recipe:

3 overripe bananas (the blacker the better, unless they're moldy!)
1 cup light brown sugar (packed)
10 tablespoons butter (unsalted), at room temperature
2 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees; move rack to lower-middle position. Generously grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
2.Beat bananas with an electric mixer until smooth. Add brown sugar, butter, and eggs, and mix until completely incorporated.
3.In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
4.Stir in the walnuts and/or chocolate chips, if you're using them.
5.Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake for one hour, or until bread is a deep brown and an inserted skewer comes out clean.

And here's my rendering, taken with my phone. Tastes much better than it looks: