I found a new recipe for oatmeal banana bread today and I just had to make it. It was very, very tasty (“tastiful”, my teen says), but it had an oversweet aftertaste and the rise wasn’t quite as good as I wanted. I adjusted the recipe and tried again this evening. The flavor is perfect now. I still don’t have quite the rise I was hoping for, but I’m going to post the recipe anyway. If I get a better rise in the future, I’ll post changes then.

Oatmeal Banana Bread

1/4 c. shortening
1/4 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. oatmeal (the first time, I used quick-cooking rolled oats, but I was out for the second batch, so I used Coach’s Oats. They worked just fine)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 very ripe bananas
1/4 c. milk

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 8½ x 4½” loaf pan with nonstick spray.

Cream together the shortening, butter, and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

In a ziplock bag, mash the bananas until uniform. Add the milk and mush it into the bananas.

Add half the dry ingredients to the sugar and butter mixture, scrape the bowl, and then add half the banana mixture. Repeat. Mix gently until blended.

Pour into the pan, and bake for 50-60 minutes until a butter knife inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Ish. You may get some banana on it, but no batter.

Remove it from the oven and cover the pan with aluminum foil for 5-10 minutes. Remove the loaf from the pan and serve hot or let it cool down.

You can add raisins, walnuts, or dried blueberries – just fold them in just before you pour the batter into the pan.

Makes 1 loaf.