Banana Pecan Bread

Mmmmm . . . smell that? That's the smell of a loaf of banana bread baking in my oven. This is one of the Top Ten Recipes requested by the resident Man in Apron. It's inspired by the basic recipe in the Betty. You should see the page of my copy. It has been used so many times that it has long since fallen out of the actual cookbook and is covered in egg whites that dried on the page. Which brings me to my first objective: Honey? Pookie? Would you please buy me a new Betty for our anniversary?

Ingredients
- 1 1/4 Cup sugar
- 1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 2 large eggs
- 4 ripe bananas, mashed
- 1/2 Cup plain yogurt (or buttermilk)
- 1 Tsp Mexican vanilla
- 2 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
- 1 Tsp baking soda
- 1 Tsp salt
- 1 Cup pecans, either pieces or halves

Before you mix, Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Move the rack in the oven to the bottom so that the top of the loaf will be in the center of the oven. Spray the bottom only of a 9X5X3 loaf pan with cooking spray.
(It's important to only spray the bottom and NOT the sides. If you spray the sides, the batter rises up and forms a burnt, crusty ridge around the outside. Definitely not pretty. You want a pretty, domed top.)

Prepare the Wet Team:
Cream together the sugar and butter until fluffy. Stir in eggs. Stir in bananas, yogurt, and vanilla.

Prepare the Dry Team:
Mix soda and salt into flour. Gently stir the Dry Team into the Wet Team just until moistened. (Overmixing will cause ugly baking.) Then stir in pecans. Pour into the pan. Bake about 1 1/4 hours.

You know it's done when a cake tester or toothpick in the center comes out clean. Let it cool in the pan on a wire rack for approximately 5-10 minutes. The take a knife and gently run it along the inside of the sides of the pan to loosen the bread. Remove from oan and let it cool on the wire rack. Now, ideally, you should let the bread cool completely before slicing, so that you get pretty slices, blah, blah, blah. But it's like brownies. Fresh, warm brownies are hard to resist. You don't care if that brownie sliced prettily. You just want to cram it into your mouth!