Really. REALLY good banana bread.

My aunt (my mom's sister) sent me this recipe by email several years ago. SHE got it from my Aunt Anne, her brother's wife. My Uncle is the editor of the Seattle P-I and I'm not sure if he got it from his work, or something else...but it comes from a b&b in KY (as noted at the end of the recipe). This banana bread recipe is sooooooo. Good. I actually thought of entering it in the county fair; when I eat this stuff, I swoon. I found that using the little bananas (the ones that say they are from Colombia) make the best bread but I think any ones would work fine.

BEST BANANA BREAD
MAKES 2 LARGE LOAVES

• 2 cups mashed banana
• 1 cup strong, black coffee
• 1 1/2 cups melted butter
• 1 3/4 cups brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 cups flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• Grated rind from one orange
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Moosh together in a mixing bowl the mashed bananas and coffee. In a separate bowl, mix the butter and sugar. Then add the eggs one at a time mixing in vanilla and almond extract between additions. Stir in the salt and baking soda.

In the third bowl (we didn't say this was easy did we?), mix together the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and orange rind. Combine the ingredients into 1 bowl, mix gently then stir in the raisins and walnuts.

Grease 2 loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees 40-50 minutes. We usually eat one loaf immediately and wrap and freeze the other.

The following recipe is from the Helton House Bed-and-Breakfast in Owensboro, Ky.: