Weekend houseguests and banana bread

You know those kinds of recipes that you can totally bake on autopilot? Aunt Holly's Banana Bread recipe is one of those for me. So easy, delicious, and yummy! With houseguests in town for the weekend and a few bananas that were kind of past the stage of overripe, we spent a relaxing day on Saturday hanging out with friends and inhaling the delicious, heavenly sent of this tasty treat baking. I may or may not have (ok I did) added an extra egg by mistake, due to my preoccupation with chatting with our guests, and it STILL worked out perfectly! So rather than throwing away those way (waaaaaaaaaaay) too ripe bananas, take 5 minutes to make a batch of this. Perfect for sharing with houseguests, or keeping it all to yourself :)

Aunt Holly's Banana Bread From Epicurious

Ingredients:
3 medium-sized bananas, overly ripe
¼ cup of butter, melted
1 ½ cup of all-purpose flour
1 cup of white sugar (I always use a little less and find it plenty sweet enough, even without choc chips)
1 large egg, beaten
1 tsp. of baking soda
¼ tsp. of salt
Optional additions: chocolate chips (milk, dark, even white chocolate is divine), walnuts, or shredded coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 9 inch loaf pan with parchment paper, leaving about 2 inches hanging off the sides.
2. In a large bowl, mash bananas. Add all the ingredients but the additions. Mix well (until all the flour is gone).
3. Stir in the additions, until just combined. Pour into loaf pan and even out the top with a spatula.
4. Bake in oven for 50-60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. If top of bread begins to brown but the inside isn't done yet, tent the top with foil and continue baking.
5. When ready, allow to cool in pan for 30 minutes. Lift out with parchment paper, continue cooling until banana bread is firm to cut into (about 20 minutes).

Yum!