In case you missed the news in Relish, I am moving! I lined up a couple of guest posts to keep the content coming while I pack up, move and unpack it all again 🙂 Today’s post is from Willow of Will Cook for Friends.

Hello everyone! Pleased to meet you – I’m Willow. I am so excited to be guest posting here in Mary Fran’s space, and sharing this delicious banana bread with you!

Now, I’ve eaten a lot of banana bread in my day. I mean, a lot. (Is it possible to have too much banana bread? I don’t think so.) One of my earliest childhood memories was sitting at the dining room table with my mother, eating slice after slice of warm banana bread with her. By the time everyone else in the house had figured it out, most of the loaf was gone. I’m like a banana bread magician – now you see it, now you don’t!

(Actually, now that I think about it, I’m also an ice cream magician. And a pie magician. Mm, pie…)

Now that I’m all grown up, making banana bread is one of my favorite ways to treat myself. It’s quick and easy to pull together, and since it’s packed with bananas and nuts, it’s easy to convince myself that it’s good for me. Which, let’s face it, it’s good for the soul, so… it counts.

Even though I don’t adhere to a strictly gluten-free diet, I love to make gluten-free recipes whenever I can, and this banana bread has definitely become one of my favorites. To be completely honest, I like it even more than its traditional counterpart. The hardest part of making regular banana bread is not over-mixing the ingredients, which can lead to a tough, dense bread. When you’re making it gluten-free, there’s no fear of over-mixing, and the bread turns out moist and tender every time. Plus it opens the door to using more nutrient-dense flours, like oat and almond flour, which helps me feel a little less guilty when I eat half the loaf while typing up a blog post.

Err… yeah.

When it comes to making banana bread, the riper your bananas are, the better. We’re talking brown-speckled and verging on mushy. Whenever I buy a bunch of bananas, I get a couple more than I think I’ll need for just snacking and smoothie making. When the extras start to get overripe, I peel them, put them in a zip-top bag, and throw them in the freezer. Then when I’ve got enough frozen bananas to make a loaf, I just pull them out, let them thaw, and mash. They’ll turn brown and kind of slimy after being frozen (appetizing, right?) but don’t worry, that’s exactly how you want them. Once they’re mashed and mixed into the batter, they give the perfect level of sweetness and moisture.

I may or may not be hoarding a secret stash of overripe bananas in my freezer for this very purpose. You never know when the urge for banana bread will strike!