Foolproof Jamaican Banana Bread

In my repertoire, I have an amazing banana bread recipe that I like to make from time to time. It's just one of those simple treats that is particularly great because it holds the pretense of being healthy.

So, when I saw that my favorite Jamaican food website (http://www.cooklikeajamaican.com) had a banana bread recipe, I had to jump in and try it. After all, it's always nice to see how one recipe stacks up to another!

Fairly similar, their differences were so faint that I could have just as easily supplemented this one for that without anyone noticing....which lead me to the question, how exactly was this Jamaican?! Heck. Who cares! In the end, it was just a nice cake...Jamaican or otherwise! I will definitely make this one again.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp baking soda ¼ tsp salt 1 tsp ground nutmeg ½ cup soft butter ¾ cup brown sugar 2 eggs, beaten 4-5 overripe large bananas (2+1/3 cups mashed) 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/3 cup raisins (optional) Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Place flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg in a mixing bowl; stir and set aside 2. Beat butter and sugar together until fluffy; stir in eggs and vanilla 3. Mash bananas to equal 2+1/3 cups; mix into wet ingredients 4. Fold banana mixture (and raisins, if using) into dry ingredients until blended; do not over mix 5. Pour batter into a greased 4½-x 8-inch loaf pan 6. Place pan in oven and bake for 1 hour or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean Note: If you use a larger loaf pan reduce the baking time