ONGOING QUEST: The Perfect Banana Bread

I've been searching for amazing banana bread for a while. Banana desserts are an obsession of mine (although I've come to find that I'm not really interested in eating bananas as a standalone food...), and I frequently have a bowl of too-ripe, speckly bananas in my kitchen, just begging to be smashed into bread.

A while ago, though, I got in a banana bread rut. I was making loaves of bread, over and over again, each one becoming less interesting than the last.

I'm hoping that this recipe, lifted from Smitten Kitchen (my food blog Mecca), will spice it up a bit (pun only slightly intended). Also, it will continue in my recent habit of baking only recipes that call for alcohol--a habit which has caused my colleagues some concern, but not enough concern to keep them from eating the fruits of my booze-infused labors.

"Jacked-Up" Banana Bread

3 to 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted salted butter
3/4 to 1 cup light brown sugar (depending on the level of sweetness you prefer, I always use the smaller amount)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon bourbon (optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
1 1/2 cup of flour

Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, vanilla and bourbon, then the spices. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4×8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes to one hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

It's in the oven now!

Edit: TOO spicy. It's a bit more like a spice cake and a bit less like banana bread than I'd like it to be. Next loaf, definitely halving the amount of nutmeg and cinnamon.