I bought this Fannie Farmer Cookbook in 1969 in Spokane, Washington. I was 20 years old and had a summer job working for the United States Forest Service in Sandpoint, Idaho. My co-worker and I visited Spokane and went into a book store and I spied this book. I had never had one before. I wish I could remember what I paid for it. My mom used it for a year or two and then when my husband and I got married, she gave it back to me. By that time she had used it so much that the binding was failing and she put duct tape on it. I have added to that over the years.
Our daughters and I referred to this wonderful, basic, cookbook constantly. In fact, this book is how I learned to cook. My mom had taught me how to bake when I was growing up, and so I knew how to follow a recipe, but I didn't really know how to cook
This morning I had some bananas that were hopelessly ripe. I didn't want to throw them away, so decided to make banana nut bread. The best recipe I've ever had for that is the one in this cookbook because it does not call for any oil. Here it is. (Notice how dirty the page is!)
In order to use the recipe, I needed to "tweak" it because I no longer can eat wheat, and don't use eggs. Here is what I came up with:
BANANA NUT BREAD
3 ripe bananas, well mashed
6 Tablespoons aqua faba (the liquid from cooking chickpeas)
2 cups whole grain spelt flour
1/2 cup honey
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup finely chopped English walnuts
Preheat oven to 350 F
Using an electric mixer, mash the bananas well. Use the mixer to also beat the aqua faba until it is foamy and add that to the bananas. Add the honey and mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine the spelt flour, salt and baking soda.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until everything is combined well.
Stir in the walnuts.
I used olive oil spray on my loaf pan and poured the batter in and smoothed it out. Bake for about 50 - 60 minutes until the loaf tests done with a toothpick.
It's delicious and nicely soft and moist!
