Paula's Best Banana Bread

2 c flour
1 1/2 c quick oats
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 c butter or butter flavor crisco, softened
2 ripe bananas (the blacker the better!)
1/2 c applesauce
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp coconut extract
1/2 c walnuts
1/4 c raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheight. Grease and flour two 9" by 5" loaf pans.

Mix flour, oats, bp, salt, and bs in large plastic bowl. Cut in butter until coarse crumbs are shaped. Add walnuts and stir again.

In smaller second bowl, mix mashed bananas, eggs, applesauce, vanilla, and coconut until smooth, add raisins and stir again.

Add banana mixture into flour mix and stir just until moistened. Spread evenly into the two prepared loaf pans.

Bake 50 min on middle rack.

Cool in pans for 10 minutes then remove from pans and finish cooling on wire rack.


~~**Feel free to improve upon this recipe and post your suggestions :) I suspect the basic bread mix would be awesome with cranberries and a bit of cinnamon during the holidays.

This is a great recipe to take care of those residual left behind bananas. It never fails that Jeff will leave behind one out of a bunch. I just pop them whole into the freezer when they turn so black he won't eat them and let them thaw on a paper towel while my butter is coming to room temperature.


ENJOY!