Ding-Dong Ditch Banana Bread

 

Ding-Dong Ditch Banana Bread

1/2 c butter, softened
1 c sugar
2 eggs
3 mashed bananas
2 c all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbs cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour one 9" x 5" pan.

Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs. Beat in the banana. Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and vanilla extract.

Pour into the pan, and bake 1 hour or until you can poke a toothpick into the center of the loaf and it comes back out clean.

Remove from pan and let cool. If there are any left overs, store them in the refrigerator.

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OK, so why is this called Ding-Dong Ditch Banana Bread? When I was growing up (before internet and video games), bored children would play a game called ding-dong ditch. They'd sneak up to some one's house, ring the doorbell, and run giggling away before anyone actually answered the door. Points if you could hide nearby to see the door open, and the puzzled home owner look out at the empty stoop, scratch their head, shrug, and head back inside. If you wanted, you could take it up a level and leave something on the doorstep for the home owner to find. Sometimes this was rather mean spirited, and sometimes it was a gift. (I'm still not sure where a basket full of garden grown zucchini falls in that spectrum...)

So....tonight I was experimenting and made a loaf of banana bread, using the above recipe. It was easy to throw together, and made the house smell heavenly while it was cooking. I snapped the picture so I'd have an entry to my 365 project for the day (http://365project.org/lissamc/365), then let the loaf cool just barely enough before I cut myself a couple of slices. Mmmmmm... Good texture, and not too sweet! I topped the warm pieces of bread with some real butter and some thin slices of sharp cheddar cheese, then went downstairs to my computer to gloat over FaceBook that I had Fresh Banana Bread.

Well, the gloating worked to draw my other midnight friends (did I mention I was baking at 11 at night?) out of the woodwork. One of the folks who popped up was an imaginary friend--meaning I knew them only through the internet, and had never met them in person. She had spent the day at the hospital with a sick family member, and hadn't eaten much, and envied the Fresh Banana Bread. We started comparing notes...and I found that she only lived a mile and a half away! Hmmmmm......

Cue the Mission Impossible theme song! (Do you hear it in your head now?) I chopped off half the loaf and wrapped it up in tin foil, darted out to my car, and managed to find my way through the darkened back roads to her house. Without even getting lost! She actually caught me before I managed to sneak up and ring her door bell, but I successfully delivered a giggle, a hug, and a hunk of still warm bread, and chased her back inside where it was warm.

I can now attest that she isn't imaginary after all, but is a Real Girl. And I am still giggling at the Midnight Banana Bread Run. Complete with theme music.

And the bread is now officially 'Ding-Dong Ditch Banana Bread' in my recipe file.