Banana Bread In-A-Jar

By carvalhohm

Ingredients

• You will also need:
• 2/3 cup shortening
• 2 2/3 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups mashed bananas
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves (I used half a teaspoon because I didn’t want mine too ‘clovey’.)
• 2/3 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
• 12 250 ml canning jars
• funnel

Details

Servings 12
Adapted from allrecipes.com

Preparation

Step 1

If you planning on storing these for a while, you will need to sterilize your jars. (Some reviewers on Allrecipes.com said the jars will keep up to a year in your pantry if sealed properly. To be safe, I wouldn’t make these more than a week before your wedding.) Follow instructions here for how to sterilize jars. I didn’t sterilize my jars because I plan on eating mine within next week or so.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees (165 degrees C). Grease insides of dozen 250ml canning jars. (I wiped mine down with vegetable oil.)
In large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.

Mash bananas.

Beat in eggs, bananas, and water.

Sift together flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves.

Add to banana mixture. Add nuts and stir them in with spoon.

Insert canning funnel into mouth of jar and pour mixture into greased jars, filling half full.

Place jars directly on rack in oven.

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 for 45 minutes.

Don’t worry if a few rise over top of jar a bit like this one. You can press it down with the lid.

While jars are still warm, add lids. Screw on tightly. If you sterilized your jars (as I mentioned, I didn’t because I didn’t plan on storing mine), listen for ping once you have added lids; this means that the jar is sealed. If you miss “ping”, wait until they are completely cool and press on top of the lid. If it doesn’t move at all, it’s sealed.

Find some pretty vintage fabric and trace circle. I used bowl and traced around it with pencil.

Cut out circle.

Make ‘ribbon’ by ripping piece of vintage fabric.

Fringe edge of circle and tie ‘ribbon’ around the jar. Add tag and you are good to go!

I love look of mix n’ match vintage fabrics! Especially vintage fabrics. (Most of the fabrics I used were from vintage bed sheets. Just like these buntings.)
To remove cake, simple slide butter knife around loaf and it will pop out.