Kona Inn Banana Bread

I've have been obsessed with banana bread forever. While I have had some success in the past, I am always in the lookout for a new recipe to try. I ran into this one on from Kona Inn in Hawai-- and I thought this may be a good one to try . One thing that I noticed was that they're using six bananas instead of three or four that most recipes call for. It also uses shortening, instead of regular butter. So I figured that I would try this.

The recipe makes (2) loaves of breads, and I ended up making 1 loaf and using up the rest for mini muffins (it made 20). The bread had an excellent banana flavor, sweet and very moist. I put it in the oven for 1.5 hrs and it was still soft in the middle -- it was actually rather frustrating!

I put the mini muffins in the oven for 20 mins, and they were perfect! I think next time, I would definitely use (2) larger loaf pans and turn down the heat, and leave them in the oven longer.

Kona Inn Banana Bread

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup vegetable shortening
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups ripe mashed bananas (about 6 bananas)
• 4 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350.

Grease and flour (2) 8x4x3-inch loaf pans.

Stir together the flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl. In another larger bowl, mix together the shortening, sugar, mashed bananas, eggs and walnuts. Add the combined dry ingredients and stir only until the batter is thoroughly blended.

Pour into the prepared pans and bake 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer or straw inserted in the center of the loaves comes out clean, or with only a few moist crumbs. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out on a rack and let cool completely.