Banana Bread

I am a quick bread fanatic constantly looking for the one recipe that will allow me to throw all others away. The closest I've tasted is my mother's, but for some reason I am stuck on using butter instead of vegetable oil. This one's good, not great, and will do in a pinch. It certainly wins convenience and cost effective points. The amount of sugar is minimal, which I like, but I think next time I will add raisins to up the sweetness a bit naturally. I will also increase the amount of ginger and cloves considerably...maybe 1 t ginger and 1/2 t cloves, but that's just my taste. Alas, I am still looking for the definitive banana bread recipe. Let me know if you have it!!

Banana Bread

1 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups sugar
1 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground ginger
1/4 t ground cloves
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cool
3 large very RIPE bananas, mashed well
1 t vanilla

• Preheat oven to 350,put the oven rack in the middle position and grease a 9x5x3 loaf pan.
• On a baking sheet, toast nuts for 8-10 minutes. Cool, chop coarsely and set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, spices and nuts.
• In a medium bowl, combine mashed bananas, eggs, butter and vanilla.
• Lightly fold wet ingredients into the dry until JUST combined. Like muffin batter, you don't want to over mix or your bread will be rubbery.
• Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake 55-60 minutes, rotating half way through, until a toothpick comes out clean.