'Bout bloody time, I know. The first time I sank my teeth into this nummy, and fairly healthy treat was at Sydney airport. Banana bread is tricky - since that first taste, I've tried several different varieties and recipes. This is the best one I've found so far. I think what keeps it moist, rich and sweet is the honey and cinnamon. A few of the other recipes I tried which weren't quite right didn't have honey in them, though a few did have cinammon. I don't cook much, but I am slowly increasing my repotoire of meals and sweets. Included in the method section of the recipe are italicised "kitchen novice tips". These are little things I've picked up along the way which helps make things a bit faster and easier. If you're a ktichen pro you can just skip them :)
This is my grandma's recipe book, which my family have slowly added to over the years:
This is my dreadful handwriting:
And this is the recipe:
Ingredients
100g softened butter
100g soft brown sugar
50ml runny honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp milk
2 large bananas (peeled and mashed)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
225g self-raising flour
2 eggs
1 loaf tin, greased well with butter
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Put butter, sugar and honey in a medium-sized bowl. Beat with a fork until light and fluffy. Kitchen novice tip: if you only have one set of kitchen scales, line the container with baking powder. That way you don't have to wash it in betwen ingredients. Microwave the butter and honey for 10 seconds to make it easier to mix. When measuring honey, I always add about 20ml extra to make up for the stuff that just doesn't want to come out.
Lightly beat eggs (with a whisk or fork) in a seperate, smaller bowl. Add the vanilla extract.
Slowly pour the egg mixture into the medium bowl wih the butter and sugar mix. Stir well until combined.
Mash the bananas and then fold them into the mixture. Kitchen novice tip: you can curtail the post-cooking-dish-washing an use the same bowl you beat the eggs in. Over-ripe or bruised bananas are easier to mash.
Right about now, your mixture should look like this:
Sieve in the flour and the cinnamon. Kitchen novice tip: sift in a little, mix it in, and then sift in a little more. If you dump in the whole lot and attempt to stir it in, it will be very messy!
Add the milk and give it a final stirring. Looks a bit better now, doesn't it!
Grab a wad of either baking paper of paper towel. Scoob out a nice gob of butter and smear your baking tin with it.
This will prevent the loaf sticking when it's cooked. You could also use a cake tin, or even muffin trays for this recipe, though I haven't personally tried either. Pour the mix into the loaf tin, using a spatula to get it out of the bowl. Kitchen novice tip: if you don't have a spatula... I'm really sorry. You need one. This is going to be nearly impossible without it!
Ready for the oven! (I sprinkled a bit of cinnamon on top).
Bake for 50-70 minutes. I always check mine at the 50-minute mark, using the skewer test - insert a wooden skewer in the middle of the loaf. If it comes out clean, your banana bread is ready.
Let it cool for about 10 minutes before you pop it out, or it will get quite crumbly.
This recipe is fairly easy, even though the cooking time is frustratingly long, as the heavenly smell will start to fill your kitchen after about half an hour. BUT, an hour's cooking time means that while you're waiting, there's plenty of time to do the dishes ;) this recipe can be very easily doubled if you're cooking for a lot of people. It's so yummy my house-hold of three, plus my boyfriend, can demolish one 'serving' in about two days.
Hope you enjoy!
Until next we meet,
Jade.
