Banana Nut Tea Bread

Recipe of the Week

Guest Chef this week is no one! This is going to be one of those simple recipes that I promised you when we started – something from my collection of recipes (that I’ve been accumulating for more years than I’d like to admit) that I consider to be especially good. This one falls in that category because, even though it has bananas in it (something I absolutely hate and have not touched in any form for over 20 years until I was coerced into tasting this!), it is truly excellent. My thanks for this wonderful recipe go to Maria Gotterup, a terrific lady in her eighties, born and raised in St Thomas, who so thoughtfully shared it with me.

Banana Nut Tea Bread

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter (the real stuff, please – it does make a difference!)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup banana, mashed
  • 1 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp soda
  • 1/2 cup chopped nuts (walnuts are best – pecans aren’t assertive enough)
  • 1/2 cup sour cream (this is the magic ingredient that makes it so moist)

Cream sugar and butter, add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Add vanilla and stir in bananas. Mix well. Combine flour, salt and soda and blend into banana mixture 1/2 cup at a time. Stir in nuts. Gently fold in sour cream. Pour mixture into 9x5x3 greased pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour. Cool in pan for 20 minutes before turning onto a rack.

This is great for breakfast, mid-morning coffee break, brownbag lunch dessert, after work pick-me-up, late night snack – in other words, you’ll be looking for an excuse to have more. It also makes a great gift for someone you like a lot!