So, for some reason everyone has started making Banana Bread! I think it must be because we all went out and bought a crate load of bananas at the beginning of the crisis and now their just too ripe to eat but oh so good turned into Banana Bread, (or awesome pancakes…more on that another time!)
Even Stephen Fry got in on the act, so I was delighted when the three bananas left in the fruit bowl reached the point of no return and I was ready in a flash to get going with my trusty recipe!
Now, I’ve been using this recipe for the bones of twenty years! It started as a WeightWatchers recipe and then I quickly substituted all the healthy stuff for delicious things and improved the whole thing massively as a result. I don’t know why I’ve never thought to share this, but seeing as everyone is stuck in their kitchens with a couple of over ripe bananas in their fruit bowl and too much time on their hands, it seems like as good a time as any to finally share it with you!
Top Tip: Use a loaf tin for this. A nice little 1 lb loaf tin will give you a compact and high loaf, a larger tin a longer, thinner loaf; or if you have some individual mini loaf tins or even paper muffin cases you can use that too, but adjust the cooking time as needed: the smaller the portion the quicker the cook.
Ingredients:
- 200 g Self Raising Flour
- 1/4 tsp of Bicarbonate of Soda
- 75 g of butter, plus extra for coating the loaf tin
- 75 g of sugar (demerara and coconut blossom sugar are great for added caramel flavours)
- 1 tbsp of honey
- 2 eggs
- 2 or 3 ripe bananas, mashed
- Handful of chopped nuts (walnut or pecans are perfect)
- Handful of chocolate, a 50% dark milk chocolate is great
- If you want, add some sultanas or even some fresh blueberries.
Method:
- Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius fan.
- Butter the loaf tin.
- In a bowl, place the flour and bicarb.
- In another bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and honey.
- Add the eggs in one at a time. If the mixture is too dry, add another egg.
- Stir the flour mix into the butter mix and combine.
- Add the mashed bananas, chopped nuts and chocolate, mix well.
- Pour into the tin and back for 1 hour. Skewer to test if it is cooked.
- Turn out and allow to cool.
- Slice and serve on its own, buttered or with some whipped cream.
Enjoy!
