I have made many banana breads over the course of my adult life and believe I have developed the best recipe ever. So without further ado, here it is:

The Best Banana Bread Ever

3/4 cup of sugar

1/2 stick of butter or margarine, softened

1 egg

2-3 medium overripe bananas

1/4 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup nuts or chocolate chips, if desired

Place oven rack in lowest position. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of a loaf pan (9x5x3 inches). Mix sugar and margarine in large bowl. Stir in egg until well blended. Add banana, milk, and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Stir in remaining ingredients (except nuts and chips) until moistened. Once all ingredients are moist, stir in nuts or chips. Pour into loaf pan. Bake for about one hour or until pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely before slicing.

A couple of tips for better banana bread

In addition to following the recipe, I do a few extra things to make my bread the best ever.

Use 3/4 cup of chips. This makes the loaf extra chocolate-y but if you don't like that much chocolate feel free to use less.

It is really important to use very overripe bananas. They need to be disgustingly overripe to the point of being extremely brown and almost liquidy. How do I do this? When I see my bananas starting to turn, I place them in the refrigerator in a zip lock bag. Over the course of a week or so you will see them turn even more brown and very soft. The perfect overripe banana is one that doesn't need to be cut or broken into pieces in order to incorporate it into the mixture. (Of course don't use bananas that have mold on them or anything that might make you sick).

Even though the recipe calls to bake the bread for a full hour, I usually take it out around 50 minutes and let it sit for 10 minutes outside the oven. This helps to keep the middle extra moist which is what my family likes. If you don't like it as moist, keep it in the oven for a full hour.

I hope you enjoy this wonderful recipe. It truly is the best.