Giving this to friends and neighbors is a terrific idea. Excellent for the Christmas Bazaar as well. Add a lovely label and a circle of holiday fabric on the jar’s ring for decoration. You can create alternative varieties by using different fruits and vegetables in place of those called for in the basic recipe.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 5 mins |
| Servings: | 24 |
| Yield: | 8 (1 pint) jars |
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup shortening
- 2 ⅔ cups white sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups mashed bananas
- ⅔ cup water
- 3 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- ⅔ cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease insides of 8 (1 pint) straight sided, wide mouth canning jars.
- In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, bananas, and water. Sift together flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves. Add to banana mixture. Stir in nuts.
- Pour mixture into greased WIDE MOUTH pint jars, filling 1/2 full of batter. Do NOT put lids on jars for baking. Be careful to keep the rims clean, wiping off any batter that gets on the rims.
- Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, sterilize the lids and rings in boiling water.
- As soon as cake is done, remove from oven one at a time, wipe rims of jars and put on lid and ring. Jars will seal as cakes cool. Place the jars on the counter and listen for them to “ping” as they seal. If you miss the “ping”, wait until they are completely cool and press on the top of the lid. If it doesn’t move at all, it’s sealed.
- Jars should be eaten immediately or kept sealed in refrigerator for up to a week.
Reviews
This is a keeper, very easy and everyone was pleased with the thoughtful exchange.
Loved the video. The recipe was easy to follow. I made pumpkin bread & used butter for shortening, unbleached flour & nutmeg instead of ground cloves, and added 1/4 cp. chocolate chips . The breads took more like 55 minutes on, and two took and hour. None of them rose to the top. Since they are a gift, I tried one & it was yummy. Very moist & dense, but the toothpick test said they were cooked thoroughly. I even had to cover the toothpick holes with a walnut! Just can’t figure out why they didn’t rise more ??… Maybe the flour? Are they supposed to rise more once the lids are on? If so, that’s an important to mention in the recipe. My question is why do you have to refrigerate them? Every other recipe said they can go in the pantry for months I refrigerated, like bread in a can. I don’t understand and was hoping to send them in the mail without having to send them refrigerated…??
I wanted to make this in the jars but didn’t feel like it at the last minute. Instead I used my new mini loaf pans. I halved the recipe as I did not want or need such a large quantity and it filled 3 mini loaf pans. It is a very hot day here in CA so I opted not to use my oven and put them in the toaster oven instead (which I was a little worried about because the temperature of it seems higher than my oven at the same degrees). Anyway I baked them at 325 in the toaster oven for 30min then rotated them and turned my toaster oven down to 300. I checked them at 38 min with a cake tester and it came out clean so I pulled them out. Let them rest in the pan about 10 min before turning them out on a baking rack to cool. Oh my word, DELICIOUS!!!
Always turns out great! I like the way it seals up with the lid on and it makes cute circle slices of bread!
My husband loved this banana nut bread. Said it was the best he ever had.
We made this for our wedding as gifts for our guests. topped them with old fabric and they were a success.
Good recipe, but I suggest that you not boil your lids. Sterilize them with near boiling temperature water, but water that is too hot can damage the seal on your lid when you apply the lid to the jar. Yummy stuff!
I made this to give as gifts, and I have to tell you it was fabulous! Baked up beautifully, smelled wonderful and tasted even better. And everyone who received one ate them in a flash. Give it a try, it’s an excellent and easy recipe.
No changes made. I will make it again.
Love the concept of the canning jar presentation. I posted a picture (somehow it is now showing up on it’s side) of enhancements in the preparation process. First of all, I used “Baker’s Joy” baking spray to coat the inside of the jars. This cooking spray has flour in it (no idea how they do that) so it is comparable to greasing and flouring the jars). One of the other reviewers piped the mixture into the jars with a plastic bag – I found that the top of a 2 liter recycled soda bottle made a perfect funnel. The mouth of the bottle was large enough to allow nuts and chocolate chips through, but kept the sides nice and clean. Amazingly enough, the top of the inverted bottle ended up right at the 1 cup measurement in the jar.
Excellent flavor! I put jars directly on the oven rack, spaced them 3-4 inches apart & they baked perfectly.
I have a question. Do you need to remove the bread from the jar to completely cool on a wire rack and put it back in? Or leave it in to cool completely? Thank you. The recipe is delicous!
This recipe is probably the best banana bread recipe I have made. It was so easy to make. The banana bread stays so moist in the jar, and comes out so easy. Excellent.
Made this for Christmas gifts. Everyone loved them.
I made this banana nut bread twice. It’s moist and delicious! I did bake them right on the oven rack not a cookie sheet and they were done perfectly. I’m using these for Xmas gifts and I’m sure my friends and family will enjoy the taste and flavor. Thx for the recipe!
I made these for the neighbors. A good hint after sealing the jars cool them upside down. This helps the lids seal and bread loosens from the side of jars. I made 12 jars 1/2 pints and one loaf.
Grandma Van Doren’s White Bread review: Don’t underestimate the size of bowl you need to use to let your bread dough rise. I had to move it to a much larger bowl, when I saw how much it was growing (almost overflowed) in the 1st rise. Getting ready to bake in about 1/2 hour, and it looks like they will be 3 beautiful loaves. Will update, if it doesn’t remain a 5*.
I loved this recipe !! I made them for a party of 35! The flavor was different than I normally am used to, it was the cinnamon maybe but I really really loved it!! Thanks for sharing . This is my new go to!
little more cinnamon
I love this recipe! It’s so moist and tasty. I make it for my coworkers a lot. Recently I used 5 bananas instead of 4 (since I had an extra banana) and it was even better. The best one I’ve made so far. Got so many compliments from it.
This is delicious!! I actually ran out of flour & used Bisquick for the 2/3 cup of the flour (in a half recipe), used the full amt of cinnamon, but added in equal parts of cloves & nutmeg, reducing the amt by 1/3. I also omitted the nuts because I’m not a fan of nuts in baked goods. ?? It is absolutely yummy!! I made a loaf for myself before baking it for my dept as gifts this year. Can wait to see if they love it as much as I do! ??