Yummy Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

One of the perks of having a married daughter is that she bakes in her own kitchen. :)

But that same perk has a downside. She and her new hubby stopped by for lunch yesterday and they both raved about this new banana bread recipe she had found on Sally's Baking Addiction (her favorite baking blog).

Of course we asked if there was any to share. They looked at each other and laughed.

So I asked if there was enough to take a picture so I could share the recipe with you...and this is what she sent me.

I figure if a loaf of banana bread can't last 24 hours in a house with only two people, it must be pretty good!

So I looked up the recipe. Here's the original from Sally's Baking Addiction, and here's my version:

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

ingredients:

2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda (add a little extra if your altitude is above 3000 feet)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 Tablespoons butter, softened
2 eggs
3 bananas, very ripe and mashed
1/3 cup sour cream (or substitute yogurt for a lower fat version)
1 teaspoon vanilla

cinnamon swirl:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 Tablespoon butter, softened

optional glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon cream

*the glaze is optional because you won't want to wait to put the glaze on before digging in!

Preheat your oven to 350° and prepare a 9x5 loaf pan. (Spray with non-stick spray or grease with butter or oil)

Mix the cinnamon swirl: In a small bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon until mixed thoroughly.

Make the batter: In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

With your mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar together. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating slightly after each one. Mix in the bananas, sour cream and vanilla, then slowly add the dry ingredients, mixing on low speed just until the dough is combined.

Put half of the batter in the loaf pan. Distribute the cinnamon swirl on top of the dough evenly. Top with the remaining batter.

Bake for 40-45 minutes until done. Test with a toothpick or lightly push on the top of the loaf - if it springs back, the bread is done.

Cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack.

If you can, wait until the loaf is completely cool before cutting it. It actually tastes better when it's cool...but if you can't wait, go ahead and dig in!

While you're enjoying your banana bread, let's take a little trip to Wyoming!

My dear husband and I celebrated our 34th anniversary with a weekend in the Big Horn Mountains.

On Saturday we went hiking in this wilderness that is so like - and yet so unlike - our Black Hills in South Dakota.

Our goal was a waterfall we had heard about, but on the way we walked through this gorgeous mountain valley.

If you were a character in a Louis L'amour novel - say, Jubal Sackett - you'd picket your horse yonder next to that pine and make camp. And you'd think long and hard about settling on this piece of land, even if you weren't a settlin' kind of man, because this Tensleep country is mighty fine.

Sigh. We didn't have any horses to picket out, and the sun was drawing toward noon, so we pressed on.

Only a quarter mile farther up the trail we found the falls.

We ate our lunch at the top of the falls and enjoyed the view.

This is my kind of waterfall - not too big, and not too small.

Flowers grow like crazy wherever sunlight can peek through
the trees!

Looking upstream.

And looking downstream.

All too soon lunch was over and it was time to head back to the trail head. This was a short hike - only three miles there and back. If we had planned more time, we could have headed on up to Mirror Lake, or even farther to the Lost Twin Lakes.

We'll definitely have to plan for a longer hike next time!

Do you have a favorite weekend get-away that you long to visit again? Tell us about it!

Jan Drexler loves her family, her home, cooking and just about anything made by hand. But she loves her Lord most of all.

Stop by Jan's website to learn more about her books: www.JanDrexler.com