Banana Bread

This recipe involves very simple baking ingredients that you should have in decent quantities for any of your baking needs: flour, sugar, butter, baking powder etc. However the key ingredient is (surprise, surprise) BANANAS!

The best thing about this recipe is you can use anything from 2-5 bananas, and they can be in as much a sate of ripeness as you like (and I mean any). See below for an example of the excessively blackened bad boys that I happened to use this time.

Trust me; they work.

The bonus of them being extremely ripe is that mashing beforehand is not needed and you can just wack them in to be whisked in with the rest of the ingredients.

This particular recipe is from Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess which, despite not actually teaching me to be a domestic goddess, offers this beautifully healthy breakfast (or snack option) which is perfect for students.

The culinary bible in all its glory

Although the walnuts and sultanas may seem like luxury items, both can be used as great fibre-filled salad ingredients or healthy snacking options. Walnuts are a great snack to nibble on whilst revising, especially if you toast them first -put them in the oven at 200 degrees for about 10 minutes, but keep watching so they don't burn-.


Ingredients

100g sultanas
75ml rum (I don't need to tell you what excess of this can be used for)
175g plain flour (wholemeal if poss.)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
125g unsalted butter (melted or just softened by being taken out of fridge in advance)
150g sugar
2 large eggs (if you don't have enough eggs, a couple of tbsp per egg of plain yoghurt is fine)
2-4 bananas (as ripe as poss)
60g chopped walnuts
1 tsp vanilla extract


Recipe

• Wack the sultanas and rum into a smallish saucepan and bring to boil.
• Once bubbling take off the heat, cover, and put it aside for later use (this allows the sultanas plumpen and absorb the alcohol and therefore adds strong taste to the bread).
• Mix together with a wooden spoon all the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt, then transfer to a smaller (dishwasher proof-less washing up) bowl and set aside also.
• Using the mixing bowl you've just emptied, whisk together the sugar and butter until well combined, and then add in slowly both eggs and all the bananas (beating them as you go).
• Then, using the wooden spoon, stir in and add gradually the walnuts, vanilla essence and the drained sultanas.
• Shove in the flour mixture a third at a time and stir well.
• Turn on the oven to 170 degrees and place the mixture into a greased loaf tin, see below picture for approx. size.
• Cook for 1-1 and a quarter hours (definitely check after 55 minutes and adjust timings accordingly).
• To check if its properly baked, insert a skewer or toothpick into the loaf and it comes back batter free it is done.
• Leave to cool and eat sliced (with extra walnuts and sprinkled icing sugar if you're feeling extra special).
• It keeps well (and even longer if refrigerated) and so will do you well as a breakfast option over the next couple of days or week.

A simple tin:cookbook scale for you

Enjoy this scrumptious home cooked healthiness! It's the only cake doesn't make you feel guilty afterwards!

Complimentary tune: Bob Marley - Is This Love (Montmatre Remix) A question I asked myself many a time whilst making this baked beauty.

Tip of the day: If you're hungry between meals (especially whilst revising or doing coursework) snack on nuts. They aren't as addictive as salty snacks like crisps and they fill you up for a lot longer (also a great source of protein). As with the walnuts earlier, most nuts taste better toasted (as do seeds). 

---C

Side note: since posting this recipe, two of my friends have professed an intense hatred for this sacred yellow fruit. Therefore I intend ti win them back to the crazy side(go bananas so to speak) by listing their many merits...
(actually that'll take too long so here's a link that does: 25 Powerful Reasons To Eat Bananas)