Banana Gingerbread Loaf

Making banana bread is one of my favorite things to do but I must admit, my standard recipe sometimes gets a little old. I found an interesting version of banana bread recently in a cookbook called U.S.A. Cookbook by Sheila Lukins and thought I would give it a try.

Sheila Lukins is best known for co-owning a shop in New York City in the 70's-80's called The Silver Palate. She also is co-author along with Julee Rosso, of a couple of other fantastic cookbooks that I have in my collection, the most famous of which is The Silver Palate Cookbook. Their recipes were cutting edge in cooking chic in my opinion back then. But on with the recipe at hand. Like all quick breads this was very easy to put together and the end result is a wonderful, moist and very flavorful loaf.

Banana Gingerbread Loaf

(Adapted from USA Today Cookbook by Sheila Lukins)

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature

1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1/2 cup unsulfured molasses

1/4 cup honey

2 large eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large ones)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour a 9x5x2 inch loaf pan.

Sift dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, molasses and hone with a mixer until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the sour cream and mashed bananas and mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combine. (I did this by hand with a spatula.) Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 55-60 minutes. Let sit in pan to cool for 10 minutes then run a knife around pan to loosen loaf and invert onto a rack to cool completely. Makes 1 loaf.