This bread is the matron who opens the door and welcomes you home after a long and arduous journey. It’s been awhile since you visited, and you’ve changed some, but here you can shed your burdens with your coat and boots and forget for a moment that you are not a young child swaddled in the arms of comfort.

The crumb is soft and moist and just sweet enough to register as a treat without feeling unwholesome. The banana flavor deftly walks the balance beam with the crunchy walnuts that punctuate each bite, and the aroma is always ever so inviting. Yet there’s nothing austere or gaudy about this banana bread; it’s just pure, homey deliciousness. This humble simplicity is also what makes it a perfect recipe for making with kids and for learning basic techniques in baking: sift dry ingredients; cream sugar and butter; then mix in eggs, vanilla, sour cream & banana. Always measure carefully, and don’t forget the salt.

These types of recipes may not be fancy or overly difficult, but they are heirlooms for a reason. They are time-tested, easy to recall, and have the ability to hold memories, to recreate them, and to create new ones. They can ground us in our heritage and remind us of what it feels like to be loved. In a single bite, heirlooms like these can transport us across time and space, connecting the young to the old and the past to the future. A little flour and sugar can bridge distances and even death to invoke, if only for a moment, those we love.

Now, when I taste this bread, I remember back to my first introduction to it and how I begged Grandma for the recipe. She sweetly mailed me a handwritten copy on a tidy notepaper, the very same notepaper I reference, more as a comfort than a guide, each time I make it. I also remember the first time I tried baking the recipe and the pride I felt at having produced my own nutty loaf. And I remember introducing it to my own children, who have since dubbed it their very favorite kind of bread.

The B in Grandma B doesn’t stand for “banana” or “bread,” but her loaf is such a staple to our family’s gastronomic thumbprint that I could almost believe it does. She always baked this bread for get-togethers with friends and for family gatherings. I especially remember it at Thanksgiving. Grandma used to bring her banana bread to her regular cribbage games at the senior center, but since the Coronavirus pandemic shut those down, she, like so many others, has been deprived of the joy of sharing her cooking with others. This year instead of bringing her loaf to a holiday celebration, she’s spending Christmas isolated from her grandchildren and the tangible connection of her family.

Whether or not you have the blessing of a grandmother’s cherished recipe close at hand, I am happy to share mine. I hope it brings you the same feeling of home that is always does for me. And if you do make this recipe or any of your own family treasures, please leave a comment, or share a picture to let our grandmothers know that they are still connected to us and bringing us the comforts of home.

Grandma B’s Banana Bread:

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup butter at room temperature

• 2 eggs

• 1 1/2 cup flour

• 1 tsp. baking soda

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 cup mashed ripe banana

• 1/2 cup sour cream

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Method

1. Liberally butter a 9 in loaf pan and preheat the over to 350º F.

2. Measure out the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Using a fork, mix them together well.

3. In a separate, larger bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs and mix well. Stir in the vanilla.

4. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix well.

5. Add the mashed banana and sour cream and mix well.

6. Pour into the prepared pan, and bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

7. Let cool on a wire rack before turning out from the pan. Enjoy!

Reproduced with permission from Grandma B.