One of my first baking experiences with out my mom was banana bread. I was in art school away from home for the first time and of course, a vegetarian. I worked at a vegetarian restaurant and did some baking for it while I waitressed making $2.00 an hour plus $2.00 worth of food off the menu. I?d order a salad for $1.25 and my boyfriend Brian would come up to my work and eat the other .75 in a carob sundae?and that?s all we could afford to eat all day! I also would pick dandelions out of the cemetery near our apartment while walking home from college to our apartment (we couldn?t afford a car) and would cook them with onion soup boullion for our dinner. I weighed 112 then?In my hand-written recipe books, it?s the first recipe I ever wrote, so me and banana bread go way back. This one is dressed up with an ooooy gooooy nutty caramel top of brown sugar and butter which help slowly baste the banana slices as they bake in the oven. Pineapple upside down-cake move over!

Ingredients

• 1/3 pound hazelnuts
• 1 cup sugar
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup banana puree, from 1 or 2 bananas
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Hazelnut schmear, recipe follows
• Whole bananas
• Equipment: 9-inch cake pan

Directions

Hazelnut Schmear:

3/4 cup butter

1/2 pound dark brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts

Melt the butter. Remove from the heat and whisk in the brown sugar and the nuts. Store in the refrigerator.

Yield: about 2 cups