Banana Bread with Butterscotch Chips and Pecans

A friend posted on FB that she was making friendship bread today. I knew I had to do SOMETHING with the overripe bananas, and that gave me the motivation necessary to get on with it. After putting bananas in their oatmeal this morning, I had 3 1/2 bananas left over. It was the perfect amount.

Without thinking, I got out my trusty Betty Crocker cook book and went to their banana bread recipe. No deal. It called for buttermilk. Not only do I not have that, EVER, but little man is lactose intolerant.

So then I went to my usual source, my mother's recipes. 

Perfect. Of course. 

Basic Banana Bread
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup mashed over ripe bananas
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped nuts


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream sugar and butter/margarine. Beat in eggs. Stir in bananas and lemon juice. Add dry ingredients and mix. Spray a 9x5x3 loaf pan with non-stick spray. Fill pan. Bake 1 hour. Let cool before slicing.


Before adding the butterscotch chips and nuts I pulled out enough batter to fill a ramekin 3/4 full for the babies. I baked that for 20 minutes alongside the loaf.

• I had about 1 cup of butterscotch chips left over from making bird nest cookies that I really needed to use up. I threw them in and the result was AMAZING!
• I usually like it with walnuts but I thought pecans would go better with the butterscotch chips. They did.
• I used margarine due to the lactose intolerance. 
• When I make it normally, I add 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. We like things with a kick of flavor.
• I prefer to use a mix of 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar for flavor.
• This basic recipe is fun to play with. I've added blueberries, chocolate chips, shredded carrot...basically any fruit that sounds good to you mixed up with any or no nut combination and/or spice combination. 
• This isn't a super sweet recipe, so adding baking chips and additional fruit doesn't make it overly rich.

Tags: Recipes, daycare, childcare, cooking, toddler, preschool, banana, bread, nuts, pecan, walnut, butterscotch, quick bread

"Do you like it?"

"Oh, YES!"

"What do you like best about it?"

"The orange stuff."

The butterscotch chips were a hit!