Maple Banana Bread

I had a couple bananas looking a little brown and decided it was time to make some banana bread. I modified a very old recipe I had that used honey as the sweetener to use up my maple cream that had crystallized (note to self: use it up sooner!). It tastes great and the natural sweetness of the maple shines.

1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup maple syrup (or in my case crystallized maple cream)
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons milk
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 5x9 loaf pan well and set aside.

In a large bowel, mix the melted butter and syrup. Stir in the beaten egg and mashed bananas, milk and vanilla extract.

In another bowel, sift together the flour, baking soda and baking powder. Stir the flour mixture just until moistened in the the banana mixture (over mixing will make the banana bread tough).

Pour into greased baking pan and place into the preheated oven. Bake 40-50 minutes or until a knife placed in the center comes out clean.

Enjoy!