When my husband and I went to Hawaii, we discovered a few stands selling banana bread by the side of the road. We were told that Julia’s was “the world’s best” banana bread. I always thought of banana bread as something you make to save extra bananas from going in the trash. That was until I tasted the heaven that is Julia’s banana bread. One thing that stood out was the buttery flavor. I always made mine using the recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, which uses oil for the fat. I noticed today that our bananas were turning brown, so I decided to play around with the recipe and see if I could come close to that wonderfully moist treat I tasted in Hawaii. It’s hard to say how close I came since it’s been about a year and a half since I was in Hawaii, but it still comes close to heaven in my book, especially if it’s still a bit warm from the oven. I added macadamia nuts to mine, but you may leave them out if you wish.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 large egg, slightly beaten
3 medium very ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup macadamia nuts, chopped
additional butter for greasing pan

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter the bottom and sides of an 8x4x2-inch loaf pan; set aside.

In large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center of dry mixture and set aside.

In another bowl, combine the egg, bananas, sugar and butter. Add egg mixture all at once to dry mixture. Stir just till flour is moistened (batter should be lumpy). Fold in nuts.

Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or till a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove loaf from pan and cool on rack.

Serve warm or, for a moister loaf, wrap and store overnight before slicing.

Makes 1 loaf (about 16 servings).