Baking Wisdom and Banana Bread

One of the best gifts I ever received from my mom was an accordion file of recipes. She gave it to me when I moved out of the dorms and into an apartment in college because there I would have a kitchen. (**note- I have only recently made a lot of them, because let's be real, in college I was not spending my time slaving in the kitchen every day, I was ... studying, uh em, that's right....studying.) Not only did she pass down favorite recipes from my childhood, she also collected many from my family members as well. Probably because most of my mom's meals growing up came from a box. My brother seriously thought microwaving food was called "gourmet cooking" since that is what my mom would always say when she "zapped" something. We love you Mom!

Any way, my mom is a creative woman, not only did she think to gather these family recipes from past generations, she photocopied them so they are in my relatives' original handwriting. I have come to appreciate this gift more and more and have enjoyed making them. Now I like to ask for others' recipes in their original pen, so as to add to my keepsake. My dad's are pretty entertaining... whenever I can gather a large army together, I'll make his roast recipe.













One of my all-time favorites in the bunch is the Hawaiian Banana Bread from my great grandmother.



On the ingredient list, it originally called for 2 cups of sugar, but in my mom's handwriting, the 2 is crossed out and a 1 was added. It definitely needs more than 1 cup. You should never mess with a proven masterpiece.







I made this once a few years and ago and it did not turn out good at all. I have since discovered why. I have gained this tid bit of cooking wisdom, that most people probably acquire naturally -- follow the recipe exactly when baking.

See baking wisdom here:
In this recipe you mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately. I explicitly remember thinking, that's dumb, it all goes in the same baking dish so why does it matter?? (That was in college, I probably had a much better place to be at the time...like, uh em, the library...) Needless to say, at that time, the banana bread turned out less than scrumptious and I've had a personal vendetta with banana bread recipes ever since.



Today I won. (minus the needed extra cup of sugar, but I'm not taking blame for that one... c'mon Mom!)
No one was present to witness the perfectly browned breads as I lured them out of the oven. I even remembered my oven mits this time, because similar to my impulsive clothes shopping, I forget things are freakin hot in the oven. I just get excited! No one was present to see my "I'm the best baker in the world" pose and scream either... yep, I have one of those.

As a kid I always peeled the crispy part off the top of the bread. Since this is a traditional dish, I had to keep up the tradition. Delish.

July 23rd 2009 is the day my banana bread battle is over. Thanks to my great grandma who passed down a tasty banana bread recipe to her daughter, who then passed it to her daughter (who extracted a necessary cup of sugar), and then passed it on to her daughter (who will re-add the cup of sugar) and pass it on to her own daughter some day. Probably when she graduates from college.