Only ONE Dirty Dish: Banana Bread

Historically I've been known to be a bit of a baking failure.  All my friends and family can vouch for many of my baking disasters.  My annual Thanksgiving Pumpkin Roll has made its yearly debut since 2004 and its been edible AND presentable once (technically twice, but I discount the time that I was spoonfed my steps by my Mom. Her Pumpkin Rolls rule...)  I've discovered where I go wrong, though:

1. My Mom & My Aunt are incredible cooks/bakers and I've watched both of them, my entire life, just dump things into bowls, mix, bake and everyone DEVOURED their delights.  It looked so easy.  
2. I HAAATE doing dishes.  So when I'm baking I tend to say to myself "Yeah, that looks like 1 Tsp. of BAKING SODA!" and just pour baking soda into the mix. Then I have one less dish to wash. Seriously guys, I know what you're saying "you're annoyed by dirtying a TEASPOON!?"  I don't think that's the thought process that goes through my head in the moment, but I guess the answer is YES! Haha!

Since learning this about myself I've found that my few baking successes tend to lie in recipes with a short list of ingredients, which translates in my mind to less dishes.  This way my brain can be fooled into believing I'm not setting myself up for a grueling clean up afterwards.

This week's baking attempt ended in great success, so I thought I would share.  I was inspired to find a short recipe for Banana Bread after watching my three bananas get VERY overripe.  Thank goodness I did, because they aided in one of my best baking adventures.

Banana Sour Cream Bread

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp. of ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs (I actually used 1 egg and 1/4 cup of applesauce as a substitute for the second egg -- I think it makes it more moist)
• 8 oz. sour cream
• 1 tsp. of vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. of ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. of salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. of baking soda
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.  Grease 2 pans 5x10. In your one and only large mixing bowl mix together 1/4 cup white sugar and 1 tsp. of ground cinnamon.  Sprinkle this into the bottom of your greased baking dishes and shake it around so they are covered (this will stick to the bottom of your bread for an extra sweet, bottom almost like a crust.  I also sprinkled walnuts on the bottom of the dish (I didn't have 1/2 to mix into the batter so I just crushed 'em up really good and sprinkled it in with the sugar and cinnamon).
• In THAT SAME large mixing bowl combine sugar, eggs, sour cream, vanilla extract and cinnamon.  The mix in your salt, baking soda and flour.  Stir in walnuts if you choose.  Divide into your two greased, sugared pans.  
• Bake for 1 hour, until a toothpick comes clean out of the center.  

Told ya! One dish!  Technically you have two pans to wash after you finish off the bread.  But you don't have to wash those before you enjoy a taste.  

I also thought it would be an extra delish treat to have my warm banana bread for breakfast with a Cinnamon Latte.  I'll post that next!