Nana's Banana Bread - a recipe by Lily Tobin Hey

Lily Gertrude Tobin Hey - approx. 18 yrs old

Lily Tobin Hey was my grandmother on my mother's side. We were very blessed growing up as we had the pleasure of knowing and sharing our early childhood with both sets of grandparents. Nana and Daba, our grandfather would come to our house, in Connecticut and then New York, at least once a month for a visit or we would go visit

them. I can remember with anticipation waiting for them to arrive because we always did fun things and Nana would bring a couple of loaves of her famous banana bread.

Nana's Banana Bread Recipe:
1/2 cup butter or margarine (Crisco can be used)
1 cup sugar
3 bananas mashed (darkened and ripe)
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup chopped nuts - walnuts or pecans (Optional)
3-4 maraschino cherries

Bring butter or margarine to room temperature. Peel and mash bananas and butter with a potato masher until completely blended and liquified and then add the sugar. Mix together the dry ingredients thoroughly and then mix with the banana mixture until light and fluffy. Next add nuts if desired.

Oven @ 350* grease a loaf pan and pour ingredients into pan. Place maraschino cherries on top of the mixture along the center of the batter in the loaf pan. Cook for 1 hour or until the cake tester comes out clean.

PS. I live at high altitude so I put in an additional 2 tbsp. flour into the mixture and cook @375* for 1 hour.
Sometimes I loosely cover the top of the loaf pan with foil as to not burn the top and then remove the last 20 minutes of cooking.

This bread has always been my all-time favorite. Nana would usually make it with the cherries along the top and inevitably the 4 Wilklow children would fight over who would get a cherry.  She would usually put four so we each got one. But there was also the times when the "fantom cherry thief" would appear in the kitchen and pluck a cherry right off the top of the banana bread and no one every saw who did it!!

This banana bread recipe is so close to my heart because it represents my Nana who put such love in making it for her 4 grandchildren and making sure there were enough cherries for each of us to have one!!!