Mr. Hawthorne Makes Banana Bread. Except Not.

Yesterday afternoon, Mr. Hawthorne was watching our bananas ripen before his eyes. "You really should do something about those bananas, Rosie." Resisting the obvious retort, I sweetly asked him, "What did you have in mind, dear?" (Heh, I just choked typing that one.) "Banana bread," he replied. Rosie: "Make it yourself." Mr. H.: "OK, I will." pregnant pause Mr. H.: "I don't have a recipe. I don't know where your recipes are." Rosie prints out a banana recipe and hands it to Mr. Hawthorne. Mr. H.: "I want to use my black walnuts in it. I don't know where my black walnuts are." Rosie grabs the walnuts out of the fridge. Also grabbing a stick of butter and 2 eggs. Then I thought, "What the hell?" and got the flour, the baking soda, the salt, the brown sugar, and the vanilla.

And I put everything together on my board for Mr. Hawthorne's mise en place. Mr. Hawthorne's Banana Bread 2 cups flour 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1 stick butter, softened 3/4 cup brown sugar 2 eggs 4 overripe bananas 1 tsp vanilla 1 heaping cup chopped black walnuts Lightly grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. (Mr. Hawthorne actually did this. Without being asked. My heart is soaring.) In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream butter and brown sugar. Beat in eggs, then stir in mashed bananas until well blended. Stir in vanilla and black walnuts. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture until just blended. Pour into prepared pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 60 - 65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Bless his heart, Mr. Hawthorne mashed the bananas ...

... to a comforting pablum. Then he left and went to his favorite chair in front of the TV.

Cream the butter.

Add in the brown sugar.

Mix well.

One eggy-weggy.

Two eggy-weggy.

Banana mash in.

Vanilla in.

Black walnuts in.

You know how I like my action shots.

Banana mixture into the flour mixture.

Stir just until moistened. You don't want to see any white flour.

Spread into buttered loaf pan.

I baked this for 65 minutes.

This smells divine.

And here you have Mr. Hawthorne's lovely black walnut banana bread.

Excellent job, Mr. Hawthorne.