Banana, Walnut, and Apricot Sweet Bread

I immediately ate the big warm slice you don't see in the photo:-) YUM!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons (3/4th stick) butter, room temperature
• 1/3rd cup sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cup mashed bananas
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (1 cup and 1/2 cup)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup English walnuts, chopped
• 1/2 cup California* dried apricots, chopped (or try dried cherries and/or cranberries). The bread is also very good with only nuts added.

Mix by hand. (If you must, use the flat beater of your mixer, but don't jack the speed up to 25:-()

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together and then mix in the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the banana puree. Now take your wooden spoon and gently mix in one cup of flour. Add the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and vanilla extract (or a good bourbon if you prefer:-). Stir in the remaining 1/2 cup of flour. Gently. Don't beat or overwork the dough or your bread will be tough! Add the chopped walnuts and chopped California* dried apricots.

Spray a 8" X 4" baking pan with cooking oil. Use a paddle to transfer the batter to the baking pan and work the paddle to even up the top of the loaf. Bake the bread on the medium rack of your oven for no more than 1 hour. Start looking in on the bread in about 45 minutes. Oven temperatures and baking time may vary. When it is dark brown and firm to the touch, the bread can come out of the oven. Thump, thump. If the loaf is firm, it's done. Use a cake tester if you like to make sure it is done. If the tester comes out clean, the bread is done.

* California Dried Apricots. Look ... bigger and prettier is not necessarily better. Put a big, pretty Mediterranean dried apricot in one cup and a smaller and sometimes not as pretty California dried apricot in another. Take a bite of the Mediterranean apricot, chew it up, and swallow it. Wash your mouth out! Take a bite of a California dried apricot. Chew it up. Swallow it. I'll be astonished if you don't have a big grin on your face after you've eaten the California dried apricot. They are tangy and much sweeter than the imported apricots. Oddly enough, you'll have trouble finding California dried apricots. As of this writing, you won't find them at Whole Foods. Everyone sells the Mediterranean dried apricots. My hint: Go to a big supermarket and carefully peruse the dried fruit selection. You'll often find a row or two rows of dried apricots plainly marked "Mediterranean Dried Apricots." Next to them, you MAY find a row of dried apricots ... either marked California Dried Apricots ... or not marked. If the label does not specify the origin, read the back of the package. "Sun-Maid" will usually be the brand that offers California dried apricots. I don't know if this is true or not, but my father use to tell me the reason we have trouble finding California dried apricots is because they are so superior in taste that the Japanese buy them up. A lot of west coast agriculture products are shipped to Japan.