Banana Bread

Sometimes you just have to go with time tested recipes and forgo the need to impress with the origins of your latest avant garde find.  So I humbly present to you, one heck of a good down home recipe, and not from the latest star chef or upscale magazine but from the man himself, straight from Sherwood Forest, good old Robin Hood....flour that is!  The only changes I made to the original recipe was to omit the chocolate chips, and added pecans instead. You're also going to love the crunchiness of the streusel topping. 
The recipe makes 8 mini loaves, or one regular size loaf.

Ingredients:

Streusel Topping:
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons soft butter
1 tablespoon all purpose flour


Batter:
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 medium bananas)
1 3/4 all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup pecan pieces


In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, the oil, sugar and vanilla. Stir in the mashed bananas to combine. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and the pecan pieces, and stir to incorporate into the wet ingredients.  Pour into greased and floured into a 8"x4" loaf pan or 8 mini loaf pans.  Top with the streusel topping and bake in a pre-heated 350ºF oven for 60 minutes for the large loaf and 30-35 minutes for the smaller loaves, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.