The Best Banana Bread

I’ve (Amelia) loved banana bread my whole life. I remember being eleven and eating almost an entire loaf, my mom being shocked, and me feeling like I could still go for more. Given a proper incentive, I’m sure I could still pull it off today. Our banana bread is the best of its kind. Whenever I stray and try a new recipe it’s not the same.

Why is it the best? A combination of butter and coconut oil gives this sweetbread the perfect flavor profile, so it’s moist, sweet, and perfectly balanced. Feel free to skip the chocolate, but also please don’t. And, if you’re feeling like a real treat, we highly recommend banana bread sundaes.

We learned to turn banana bread into a dessert sundae at Sacco’s Bowl Haven in Somerville, MA.

Banana Bread

Makes 2 loaves

• 2 eggs

• 5 bananas

• 1/2 cup butter

• 1/2 cup coconut oil or shortening

• 2 cups sugar

• 4 cups flour

• 2 teaspoons soda

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 1 cup chocolate chips or diced dried apricots, or a combination of both (all optional)

Slice the butter cube in half and put half in each of the two bread pans. Place in the oven for the butter to melt while you heat the oven to 325°. This will not only grease the pan, but also brown the butter a bit, for a little extra wonderful flavor.  

Whisk together the flour, soda, and salt. Peel and smash the bananas with a potato masher.

Beat together the butter, coconut oil or shortening, and sugar for a minute or two until fluffy and thoroughly mixed. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each. Stir in the banana, then stir in the dry ingredients, but only until some white streaks still remain. Add the chocolate chips or apricots, if desired, and finish stirring so that the batter has a uniform texture.

 Divide the batter between two pans smoothing the tops a bit, and bake for 65 to 70 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes, then remove from pans to finish cooling on a cooling rack.

We love to eat this simply sliced, or sliced and toasted, or with ice cream and hot fudge sauce, like a brownie sundae with a twist.

Banana bread and hot chocolate for a heavenly 4 pm snack.

Old-Fashioned Oatmeal

When I (Kate) first lived in Russia as a twenty-year old, I had an older roommate from the Ukraine who made us oatmeal every morning for breakfast. Ludmila Romanina was her name, and during the few months we lived together she took on oatmeal as a challenge. Had she lived in Brookline, Massachusetts during those early years of Cooks’ Illustrated magazine, I’m certain a symbiotic relationship would have flourished. As it was, she planted an understanding in my heart that oatmeal had considerable potential in terms of flavor and texture worth even more than its offering of sound nutrition.    

Amelia’s bowl

Preparing oatmeal is easy, but the many approaches out there can be misleading. Made with water as the only liquid, you deprive yourself of any creaminess. Using only milk, the resulting richness overwhelms the oats’ chew and delicate flavor. Omit salt and you’ll understand why some people consider oatmeal slop—it’s the equivalent of abducting the poor oats and asking them to communicate with scarves stuffed inside their little mouths.

 The following recipe will get your oatmeal just exactly where it needs to be, freeing you to experiment with toppings—from a simple spoonful of jam to more elaborate glories. On vacation, weekends, or if we awaken five minutes early enough on a weekday, we adorn the oatmeal with granola and, depending on the season, fresh or canned fruit, a spoonful of nut butter, dried currants or cherries, a sprinkle of nuts, muesli—really, the potential combinations are so stimulating you can work yourself into a state. And we have—it’s a state called bliss. 

Mom’s bowl

Old-fashioned Oatmeal

Serves 2 or 3

• 1 cup rolled oats (aka Old-fashioned oats)

• 1 cup milk (of your choice)

• 1 cup water

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• Brown sugar, to taste

Place oats, milk, water, and salt in a saucepan. Turn heat to medium-high, bring to a simmer, then turn heat to medium low or low, to maintain a simmer but prevent boiling. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add sweetener (I like brown sugar; Amelia prefers it without; it’s also good with honey or maple syrup).

If you are serving the oatmeal in a fairly plain way, these quantities make two satisfying servings. On a busy morning where timing-wise the choice to squeeze in oatmeal was a bit dangerous, we’ll top it with a spoonful of jam and be perfectly content.