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Here is what we often do with bananas that are over ripe. It is a quick and easy way to make a moist banana muffin or cake.

Quick Banana muffins or cake

Mash up the bananas and set aside.

Mix up a yellow or white cake mix according to package directions (or if your bananas are really over ripe and watery I drain the bananas and use the extra banana liquid instead of some of the water and just reduce the amount of water to compensate for the “banana water” when mixing up the cake mix).

Fold in mashed bananas and pour into miffin tins lined with papers, or into cake pans or a loaf pans and bake according to the directions on the cake mix. Enjoy!

Banana Bread

An old Betty Crocker recipe...

1 1/4

cups sugar

1/2

cup butter or margarine, softened

eggs

1 1/2

cups mashed very ripe bananas (3 to 4 medium)

1/2

cup buttermilk

teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2

cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

teaspoon baking soda

teaspoon salt

cup chopped nuts, if desired

1 Move oven rack to low position so that tops of pans will be in center of oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans, 8 1/2x4 1/2x2 1/2 inches, or 1 loaf pan, 9x5x3 inches.

2 Mix sugar and butter in large bowl. Stir in eggs until well blended. Add bananas, buttermilk and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt just until moistened. Stir in nuts. Pour into pans.

3 Bake 8-inch loaves about 1 hour, 9-inch loaf about 1 1/4 hours, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans and place top side up on wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.

This is the best banana bread I have ever made, from Cooks Illustrated. Since you might not have enough bananas, freeze the ones you have and wait for more to be available... or go to the store and buy some that they are trying to get rid of.

The Best Banana Bread
Makes one 9-inch loaf
NOTE: Its important to use very ripe banana in this recipe, they should be heavily speckled or even black. Do not attempt this recipe with under-ripe bananas. This recipe can be made using ripe bananas that have been previously frozen, but because such bananas are too soft to slice, the 1 banana in step 3 should be omitted. Even if the banana is omitted, the top of the loaf should still be sprinkled with the granulated sugar. Previously frozen bananas release a lot of liquid, so the peeled, thawed bananas can bypass the microwave and go directly into the fine-mesh strainer. Wrapping the loaf pan in foil prevents the edges of the bread from overcooking before the center is cooked. Microwaving the bananas and cooking down the reserved liquid reduces their water content, allowing the loaf to hold more bananas without making it too dense.

1 3/4 cups (8 ½ ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup (6 ounces) packed light brown sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) room temperature unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
6 large very ripe bananas (heavily speckled or even black), peeled (see note)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped (optional)
2 teaspoons granulated sugar

1. Adjust rack in middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Stack two 12- by 18-inch pieces of aluminum foil on flat surface; fold in half to form quadruple layer of foil measuring 12- by 9-inches. Place inverted 8 ½- by 4 ½-inch loaf pan in center of foil and push foil down over sides of loaf pan, smoothing and pleating as though wrapping package. Return wrapped pan to upright position and spray lightly with non-stick baking spray. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together in large bowl.

2. Place 5 bananas in microwave safe bowl; cover with plastic wrap, cut several steam vents in plastic with paring knife. Microwave on high power until bananas are soft and have released liquid, about 4 minutes. Transfer bananas to fine mesh strainer placed over medium bowl and allow to drain for 15 minutes (you should have 1/2 to 2/3 cup liquid). Transfer liquid to medium saucepan and cook over medium high heat until reduced to 1/4 cup, about 5 minutes. Add butter, remove pan from heat, and stir until melted. Add reduced liquid/butter mixture to bananas and mash with potato masher until fairly smooth. Whisk in eggs, brown sugar, melted butter, and vanilla.

3. Pour banana mixture into flour mixture and stir until just combine with some streaks of flour remaining. Gently fold in walnuts. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Slice remaining banana diagonally into 1/4 inch thick slices. Shingle banana slices on top of loaf leaving 2-inch margin down center of loaf to ensure even rise. Sprinkle granulated sugar evenly over loaf.

4. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, 1 to 1-1/4 hours. Cool bread in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes, then remove loaf from pan and cool on wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Here is my mother’s recipe for Banana Bread from scratch if you have a little more time and energy.

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c butter, softened
1 egg
2/3 cup bananas (about 2 medium or 3 small bananas)
3 tbs. sour milk or buttermilk
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Sift first 4 ingredients, stir to mix them well and set aside. Cream butter and sugar until light. Stir in one egg. Fold in bananas. Stir the butter mixture into the flour in about three parts alternating with 1 tbs of the sour milk or buttermilk. As soon as combined fold in chopped nuts. Do not over stir!

Pour into a greased 8 X 4 inch loaf pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 1 hour.

My mother would often have three bananas or more left so she would make a batch that was 1 1/2 times this recipe abd use a slightly larger loaf pan or double the recipe and make two loaves. She would serve one loaf to us and wrap the other in foil and and then place it in a freezer bag and toss it in the freezer to have sometime later.

For those that have the Cuisanart Frozen Yogurt/Ice Cream Making machines here’s one recipe for those three over ripe bananas:

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup regular milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp Banana extract (oil)
Pinch of Nutmeg
3 over ripe Bananas

Put all in a blender except for 2 of the bananas, and whip until smooth, and place in the fridge to chill for about an hour.

Crush the remaining Bananas, and chill for an hour.

Pull the whole lot out of the fridge, place in the ice cream machine, and process as per the instructions by the maker of the machine, and add the crushed Bananas as the machine is in operation.

We use washed 48oz large Sour Cream containers we’ve saved to place the various ice creams we make into as they are just the right size for the finished product to place into the freezer. This Banana ice cream is excellent, and goes well with a dribbling of Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup.

Extra Moist Banana Nut Bread

1/2 cup butter or shortening (I prefer butter, just btw)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs, separated
3 bananas, preferably overripe mashed or pureed
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1-2 TBSP peach jam or pear preserves (see note)

Pre-heat oven at 325 F. Grease and flour a loaf pan or 8" x 8" baking dish.

Beat egg whites until stiff (add a pinch of cream of tartar if you have it), and set aside.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt.

Cream butter/shortening with sugar. Beat the egg yolks well and add to butter/shortening mix, blending until mostly smooth. Add the bananas and jam/preserves, stir in well.

Add butter/sugar/egg/jam mixture to sifted flour, stir until consistent. Fold in beaten egg whites and nuts until you're satisfied with the texture.

Bake for 1 hour or until cake tester or wooden skewer inserted into centre comes out clean and dry. As a rule, it's a **little** better to underbake than overbake.

Remove and let cool for 10-15 minutes on countertop or rack. Run a small sharp knife around the edge of the pan/dish (important!). Serve with softened butter and/or a sprinkle of cinnamon on each slice/piece.

Note: you can use any jam/jelly/preserves you like. One with a more neutral flavour, such as pear, tends to work better. The purpose of the jam/jelly/preserves is to enhance and retain moisture (and, boy, does it work!).

Next note: the purpose of beating the egg whites rather than just adding the whole egg is to change the texture of the bread. Therefore, do not OVERfold when adding the stiff egg whites; just give them a decent mix. If you like, fold in the nuts before folding in the egg whites, for better distribution of the nuts.