I’ve been MIA on Flaky Bakers for the past seven weeks which you may or may not have noticed because Becky has been killing it week after week with fabulous recipes like these Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes (drool) or this Prized Pumpkin Pie (which I made for Thanksgiving, and it was gobbled up faster than the apple or black raspberry pies). Or the Rugelah, baking soda biscuits, and apple tart. Oh my!

Just writing that makes me want to bake them ALL.

But before I get back to baking and posting, I have to take a moment for my mom. I’ve been gone from this space because in October she suffered a severe brain trauma and subsequently passed away. I spent a week by her bed in the ICU—the worst week of my life as we hoped for and willed her to regain consciousness, and then finally realized that we were going to have to say goodbye.

My heart shattered. It was too soon. (It was always going to be too soon.) I wasn’t ready to lose my mom. (I was never going to be ready.) But you never really get a say in these things, you know? So we gathered up our broken pieces and, with the help of friends and family, wove together a beautiful celebration of her life.

We celebrated the incredible artist she was, the kindness she spread wherever she went, the way she welcomed everyone with arms wide open and would hug someone the first time she met them, the way she’d tell someone she loved them as often as possible, that she was never one to hold back her love, that she would give it freely and openly. We celebrated how she made this world a better place.

It was a perfect tribute to her. She would have been surprised to know how deeply she’d affected those around her simply by being who she was. As painful as it was to say goodbye, there was a gloriousness to celebrating her.

And then Life went on, as it does. Life doesn’t stop when your heart is broken, when your world has been shaken up and irrevocably changed. It keeps moving on all around you, and eventually you begin to insert yourself back into it, trying to regain a sense of normal again.

Part of my normal is this blog, and as I thought about posting here again, I realized I can’t just pick up where I left off. I can’t just post another happy-go-lucky, goofy baking post without taking a moment to honor my mom. She was too much a part of me, too much a part of why I am the way I am, why I love to bake, and why baking is an expression of love for me.

My mom read every post Becky and I wrote, and absolutely loved that we started this blog together. The thought of posting, knowing that she’d never again read another post, ripped my heart out. It’s taken me weeks to just be able to write this. She was so proud of the work we do here, and always gushed about our posts and recipes. She was the kind of mom who was proud of all my accomplishments, always cheering me on, always believing in me. Loving me unconditionally. My greatest supporter and one of my closest friends.

I am so unbelievably blessed to have known and been loved by her, and although there is a gaping hole in my life now and I’m often flattened by the loss, I am also filled to overflowing with her love.

This weekend I made banana bread in her honor. “Banana bread is my favorite cake,” she’d always say. Because of that, I made it every time she visited. Even though I’ve already shared my banana bread recipe, I’m posting it again here, for her. And for you.

New recipes coming again next week. For now, I’m just going to take a moment to steep myself in this old favorite of hers. <3

Banana Bread

A rich, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth delicious banana bread.

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Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Course: Bread, Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Servings: 1 loaf

Ingredients

Volume - Weight

• 2 ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (can substitute all purpose)
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1/2 cup ground walnuts* (optional, but adds good nutrition and flavor)
• 1/4 cup ground flaxmeal (optional, but adds good nutrition and flavor)

Optional Additions for the Chocolate Chip Version

• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour (ONLY add the extra flour if you're adding chocolate chips!)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 F /177 C. Grease and flour a bread pan. (In my experience, these breads tend to release quicker and easier from glass pans than metal. Metal pans work, but you may have to be more patient with them.)
  
• If you're not using a stand mixer, mash the bananas before mixing them with the butter and sugar. If you are using a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar, then add chunks of bananas. Beat well until bananas are well mashed. Beat in eggs.
  
• Add salt, baking soda and part of the flour. Pour in milk and lemon juice, then add remaining flour. Mix well. Add ground walnuts and flaxmeal. If making the chocolate chip version (try it--it's so good you'll wonder why you haven't been putting chocolate chips in your banana bread until now!), add in chocolate chips and extra flour (unless you already included it--I often make a double batch because I have one kid who prefers it sans chocolate, so I mix it all up, pour one loaf's worth of batter into a pan, then add the chocolate chips and extra flour to the remaining batter. If you're just making the chocolate chip version, simply put in the total 1 3/4 cups of flour when you add your flour in).
  
• Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 F/ 177 C for 60-65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  
• Allow bread to cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes. Then loosen the bread around the edge of the pan with a knife. Give the pan a couple of shakes to loosen the bread completely, then sit it on a cooling rack or cutting board to cool. If your bread does not fully loosen with a couple of good shakes of the pan, put it down and back away from the bread. Give it more time to rest and come back to try again in 10-15 minutes. It will come loose if you've greased and floured your pan, but sometimes it likes to hold on tight to the bottom for a while. If you force it by banging on the sides of the pan to loosen it, you'll likely be tearing it, leaving chunks of the bread bottom stuck to the pan when you tip it out. (I speak from frustrated experience.) Metal and ceramic pans tend to do this more than glass ones, in my experience, but no matter what your pan is made of, have patience, Grasshopper.
  
• Let bread cool completely before slicing or freezing. This bread freezes beautifully sealed in a zip-top bag. When you take it out of the freezer, simply let it thaw before slicing and enjoying.
  

Notes

Recipe adapted from my friend Anita Anderson Cooper.

*Ground walnuts are walnuts chopped up incredibly tiny by running them through a food processor. It's a sneaky/clever way to get these healthy nuts into your baked goods without big chunks of nut meat (which I personally don't appreciate). You'll never even know they're there because they don't change the texture, not even in this soft, buttery quick bread.