There is nothing like the smell of baking banana bread!

Especially when then end result is as delicious as this recipe.

Banana bread was something I used to make out of necessity at my house. When we first got married, my husband would buy big bunches of bananas and then pretend like he was going to eat them…so of course we always had big bunches of black bananas on the counter. After a while I did wise up, because I did (finally) figure out he was just doing that so I’d make my banana bread recipe for him. It worked out, as I had the perfect excuse to refine my banana bread recipe over all those years–19 if you’re counting.

Banana bread is something I also like to make up for little gifts. The craft stores make it so easy now with all the paper baking dishes, a cello bags, and a personalized tags they’ve made available. The little personalized touches make these edible presents a thoughtful gift worth receiving.

This recipe is a little different–it’s a banana bread recipe with sour milk. Don’t worry, I’ll show you just how to make sour milk for banana bread without having to truly spoil anything.

Best Banana Bread with Sour Milk Recipe Ever

This banana bread recipe is very straightforward and easy. The only thing that might might be a little strange is the buttermilk; most people don’t tend to have that on hand and don’t really want to but a whole container for just a 1/2 cup in a recipe. The alternative is to make the banana bread with sour milk. Not hard, you just add a tablespoon of vinegar to your measuring cup, then fill the rest of the way with milk and let it curdle for a few minutes. But more on the sour milk in a minute!

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I do read your comments, dear readers! The wonderful part about this recipe is that it’s flexible. Add some cinnamon, a handful of cranberries (my mother loves to do this), chocolate chips, or whatever else excites you.  You can actually split this into two smaller loaves if you like; I just think it’s best baked in one giant loaf. We’ve made it in cake pans and as muffins and mini muffins, too. Go crazy! But be sure to adjust the baking time if you change the pan size.

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Best Banana Bread with Sour Milk Recipe

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Amazingly moist and full of flavor banana bread! There is a way around buying a whole quart of buttermilk for one use in this recipe. Pour a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar into a measuring cup then fill up to the half-cup mark before starting the recipe. The vinegar sours the milk, and is a great substitution for buttermilk.

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Ingredients

• ½ cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste (buy it here)
• 3 mashed bananas
• ½ cup buttermilk or sour milk
• 2 c flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ cup chopped nuts

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer; add eggs and mix well. Add sour milk (or buttermilk), vanilla and bananas to mixture. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture and blend well. Bake in 1 loaf pan (I like this one!) for 70 minutes.
2. Adjust your time down if you're baking in small pans. The smaller the pan, the shorter the cook time. Muffins in this recipe take about 25 minutes. I suggest checking your bread every 5 minutes after 25 minutes to see if a toothpick comes out clean if you aren't using a standard loaf pan. Once the toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, the bread is done!

If you love this banana bread, my ZUCCHINI BREAD is another must-try!

Packaging Banana Bread for Gift Giving

Materials:

• 4 inch Paper loaf pans
• 5 inch wide cellophane bags
• Cardstock
• Baker’s twine
• Heart Punch
• Edge Punch
• Expressionery.com personalized stamp

There are so many different loaf pan varieties out there; and lots with pretty print on the sides for whatever holiday you’re gift giving at! You’ll just want to bake your bread in a container the recipient doesn’t feel like they have to return. I made that mistake once–sending little mini loaves out into the world in pretty little porcelain loaf pans. Every one of them came back!

I like to slip the loaf pans into a cellophane bag and add a little tag to them. With a pretty loaf pan, the decorating the gift part is easy!

For my tag, I really just had a lot of fun going through my box of scrapbook punches. You don’t have to take all these steps; leaving out one or two details won’t deter from your pretty package!

Bread Gift Tag Instructions

Cut two 1×4 pieces of cardstock. Punch one edge with an edge puncher; punch the other with a hole puncher. Punch or cut a heart out of your choice of colors of cardstock, and punch a hole near the middle of the heart.

Layer the two 1×4 pieces of stock on top of each other and add the heart, lining up all the holes. String through with baker’s twine.

Use your Expressionery.com stamp to put your name on the 1×4 paper, then tie around the neck of your cello bag. It’s the perfect little decoration for a loving little gift!

Don’t forget to pin the banana bread recipe for later!

Thank you toExpressionery.com for sponsoring this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and I adore the high quality of their products!