What to do on a Friday? Bake banana bread!

I adapted this recipe from the Southern Living cookbook. I just love all the classic recipes you can find from there. I came across this banana bread recipe and couldn't just make it how it said to. I had to put the "Emily spin" on it. So I came up with this version, and it happens to be my favorite so far.

Banana Walnut Bread: or muffins

Bake time for loaf: 50min-1hr.
bake time for muffins: start with 18min.-20min. time will depend on your oven, may need more or less time

2 cups self rising flour. If you don't have self rising, you can make your own.
          1c self rising= 1c. all purpose + 1 tsp. baking powder + 1/2 tsp. salt. Yahoo!
1c. white sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4-1/2 tsp. cinnamon, depending how much you like
1c. chopped toasted walnuts
1/2c. butter melted, don't even think about using margarine. :)
3 very ripe bananas mashed. Now you have another use for that potato masher!
2 lg. eggs, lightly beaten
1/4c. low fat buttermilk
1tsp. vanilla extract

Now, this is the time to decide if you want muffins or a loaf. Or double the recipe and have both! I chose to do both this time because I was sending some to a friend or two and for my family there are people who like nuts, don't like nuts, and then there's my hubby who doesn't touch the stuff unless there be some chocolately chippies (that is, chocolate chips) in there. So when the mix is complete and before you add nuts, you can choose what you want to do.

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl, unless you don't want nuts; make a well in the center of the mixture. After that, in a separate bowl, mix melted butter, banana, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Once combined then pour the mixture in the dry. Stir with a wooden spoon till all the dry is incorporated.

At this point you can pour the batter into a 9 x 5 loaf pan, or you can line muffin tins with liners and make muffins. It will probably make 24 decent sized muffins. I like using an ice cream scoop to make sure each muffin is about the same so they cook evenly. Muffins will take less time and are fun for kids to eat.