I have always loved banana bread. It’s quick, it uses up all the bananas you forgot to eat during the week (the riper the better!), and, to me at least, it’s one of the most comforting bakes for the colder months. 

I first made this special bread just after I had left my home in England to move to Toronto, Canada with my new husband. I was homesick and struggling to make friends in a huge city. After trying a few iterations of the recipe, I made a big batch of this version for the first session of a reading group that my husband and I were running, in theory as part of my husband’s university job, but really because we needed to make friends. Everyone loved it! By the end of the evening, not only was the banana bread all gone, but I had made my first Canadian friends, many of whom would eventually become very dear to me. Knowing that these friends were the first taste-testers for this bread makes it all the more delicious to me two years later, and brings back many joyful memories. 

My husband and I have had to move around a lot for work since our brief sojourn in Toronto, and I have learned from experience that the best thing you can do to become part of a new community is to show hospitality. This bread is how I do that. Its familiar flavor is sure to be a crowd-pleaser, and there is nothing better than the smell of warm cinnamon to make someone feel at home. 

But why does it taste so good? A few small touches go into making it just right: the addition of nutmeg, rather than just cinnamon, gives an extra warmth to the banana bread; the sour cream and olive oil make it extra moist; and the cinnamon sugar crust provides some delightfully unexpected crunch on top of an otherwise smooth, tender bake. There are no nuts and no chocolate in this recipe, however, and for good reason: while both are delicious additions in most cases, in this recipe they would take away from the intensity of the banana flavor, which is part of what makes this bread so yummy. Trust me, you won’t feel like anything is missing!