Very Ripe Bananas

What do you do with your very ripe bananas? Recently I've been stashing them in the freezer and using them as an ice substitute in smoothies. And, of course, there's always the compost pile. 

My mom always taught me to use the very ripe bananas for banana bread. Since my frozen banana stash is starting to resemble Mt. Fuji, I thought I'd try making banana bread. This recipe comes from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything--hands down my favorite and most used cookbook. The bread turned out delish! And, the best part, no more rotting bananas!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. all purpose flour

1/2 c. whole wheat flour

3/4 c. sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 stick (8 T.) butter

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 c. dry coconut shreds

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees and grease 9 x 5 loaf pan.

2. Mix first 4 ingredients.

3. In a separate bowl cream the butter, eggs and bananas.

4. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

5. Gently stir the vanilla and coconut into the batter. Do not over mix.

6. Pour the batter into the pan.

7. Bake for 45-60 minutes until top is golden brown and toothpick comes out clean.

I love the coconut in this! You can add a half cup of nuts too if you want.