I've made this recipe many, many times. It's absolutely delicious as stated. However, don't even bother making it (or any other banana bread) if your bananas aren't super ripe. It makes the bread extremely bland. I know, because I rushed things at Christmas and ended up with a dozen bland little mini-loaves. (By the way, this recipe makes 4 mini loaves.) Also, the margarine is a good idea, as it keeps the bread more moist than butter would, so don't substitute. I've tried making this bread with 1/2 brown sugar, but found that the difference in flavor (as long as the bananas are ripe) did not warrant the additional measuring. This recipe is so good, and so easy, that I have memorized it from making it so many times. =) It makes me feel like a grandma with a special heirloom recipe that no one would believe is actually really easy!

Reviewed On: May 3, 2009

Two suggestions: (1) don't even TRY to "whisk" these ingredients together, and (2) they should have listed "water" in the ingredients list; it's key. Treat this recipe as pie dough - put everything but the water in your stand mixer bowl (I hope you have one - it works wonders!) and mix, then add water a TBSP at a time until the dough pulls together and is "workable." Then, dump the dough out and roll it. I didn't need to add more pumpkin or peanut butter or anything - this was a very easy recipe. (I forgot to add the salt, but I don't think the dog minded!) I cut the dough into tiny Christmas shapes before baking. I think I need to play around with the baking temps and times, because like my first dog biscuit attempt, I couldn't get these do be totally 100% dry and crunchy. Mind you, the dog still loved them and treated them like "special treats," taking them to another room to enjoy.

Reviewed On: Dec. 31, 2008

The dog I baked these for liked them, don't get me wrong. =) I'm docking the recipe because the dough was hard to work with (gritty, crumbly and sticky), and it was hard to know when the cookies were done. Take that with a grain of salt, because these were the first dog biscuits I've ever made. When tapped, they seemed totally dry, but they still had moisture in the middle, so when I packed them up for gifting, they became a bit soft and didn't crunch when the dog chewed them. Overall, the dog was satisfied, but I didn't feel like this was a successful recipe. I might try them again only if I felt like I **needed** to make dog biscuits, but didn't want to go to the grocery store first.

Reviewed On: Dec. 31, 2008