Banana bread

With three manky looking bananas hanging around the kitchen, there was only one thing for it – banana bread!

It’s a firm favourite with my boys and fun to make too. There’s lots of kid-friendly jobs involved, like mashing bananas, cracking eggs and sieving flour.

I use the Tessa Kiros recipe from her lovely book Apples For Jam. It’s written with little people in mind, along with a good helping of nostalgia thrown in from Tessa’s own childhood.

There are tons of recipes in there I still need to try out…

We’re having an indoor day despite the sunshine. After three glorious days of playing in the sun, I think Sam has picked up a bug in the many paddling pools we’ve been frequenting. So it’s gentle fun in the kitchen time – hurrah!

Banana Bread, Apples For Jam, Tessa Kiros

125g Butter (I only had Lurpack Lighter so used that)
180g Dark Brown Sugar (I didn’t have enough dark brown so mixed in some light brown)
3 or 4 ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
250g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp bicarb soda
3 tbsp warm milk

Preheat over to 180’C and butter a 30cm x 11cm loaf tin.

Cream the butter and sugar until smooth and then whisk in the mashed bananas.

Add the eggs, vanilla, cinnamon and a pinch of salt and whisk in well.

Sieve in the flour and baking powder and beat until smooth. Mix the bicarb into the milk and stir into the batter.

Scrape the mixture into the tin and bake for about 50 mins, until the bread is crusty on top and a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean. Turn out onto a rack and cool.

Serve warm or cold, plain or toasted with butter; but allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container, where it will keep well for several days.

So there you have it. Manky bananas transformed into super tasty baked treat that will no doubt be gobbled up by close of play this evening.

Sam and I have made a start already while Matthew and Arlo are out shopping in Ealing… chefs perks and all that 😉