Mr. Smith hates nuts. He does not feel that adding them to any recipe is ever a good idea. Even if the recipe calls for it, he feels they should be left out. No matter what the consequences might be.
Today, we had a very sad, almost black banana just laying on the counter this morning. The Monkey had deemed it inedible. Mr. Smith pleaded for some banana bread, so Banana Bread it was to be.
Now, I have made this recipe before. And it was successful. In fact, I like it more than I have any other banana bread recipe I have ever tried.
This time, since Mr. Smith was my target audience, no nuts. He was a little sad last time I made and there were nuts in it. Of course, the nuts ruined the whole thing for him.
This time he begged me to leave the nuts out. It was so sad, I had to comply.
So, instead of 2 bananas, I added a little cup (one that you would use for your kid's lunch box) of Granny Smith apple sauce. I also, heaven help me, left out the walnuts.
I hate to admit this, but I actually like it better. It seems like the apple sauce made the finished product very moist. Also using cake flour really makes the bread nice and light. Not the greasy heavy loaf I remember my mother making.
It is so easy. The hardest part is keeping yourself from eating it while it still blazing hot.