Banana Pecan Mini Loaves

1/2 cup vegetable shortening*
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup very ripe mashed banana
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray 4 foil disposable mini loaf pans with cooking oil spray and flour lightly. Set aside.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat shortening and sugar together until very well combined. Add eggs one at a time and mix until blended.

In a small bowl, mash bananas and stir in lemon juice. Add banana mixture to sugar/ shortening mixture.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture to mixing bowl and mix quickly on medium and just until fully incorporated. Stir in pecans. Divide batter equally among pans (about 1 cup for each) and bake until a wooden pick inserted into the center of each loaf comes out clean, about 35 to 40 minutes. Remove pans from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before slicing or removing bread from pans.

* Notes

Since its reformulation a couple of years ago, Crisco shortening is now free of trans fats.

Although reusable mini muffin loaf pans are available, we like to bake our banana bread in foil disposable pans for easy gift giving. Just cool, pop on the plastic tops that come with most pans or seal in clear wrap and tie with ribbon or with a decorative tea towel. It makes a lovely package plus you don’t have to worry about getting the loaves out of the pans. (That task, for some of us at least, can make baking suspenseful!)

Further conveniences? You can make the mini loaves ahead and freeze them for up to a month. It’s a great way to use up bananas that get too ripe to peel and eat – the riper the better for good banana bread.

Approximate Values Per Serving: 157 calories (47% from fat), 8 g fat (2 g saturated), 18 mg cholesterol, 2 g protein, 19 g carbohydrates, 1 g dietary fiber, 84 mg sodium

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