We just bought about two dozen bananas for about $4. What a bargain! What a headache, none of us eats bananas in a regular daily routine..The only thing i know how to do is banana bread or roasted bananas for desert. Banana bread could also come in the simple, gooey form… But: revenez a nos moutons:
Baking seems very much in tune with two days before X-Mas Eve, so, there we went. Now i have many loaves of banana bread, some half eaten, some frozen.. If you do not mind the gooiness of American moist half-sweet bread, this is the one to try and have it with tea, or toast it for elevenses.. Here then is my not-sharp-enough sample:
The quantities below point at a one sensibly large loaf (what, some 25 cm long, perhaps?). I limit myself to the capacity of the up-right mixer (mix as many loaves at once as possible), and very limiting capacity of my apartment-size oven (plan for 3 at the most, otherwise the oven will go berserk..). So, here we go:
- 300 g (2 cups) plain flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 mashed bananas
- 100g (1/2 cup) white sugar
- 100g (1/2 cup) brown sugar
- 115g (1/2 cup) butter
- 2 beaten eggs
- 125 ml (1/2 cup) milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 125 ml/70g/1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 125 ml /80g/1/2 cup cherries (halved) You can use fresh, preserved, tinned or even dried cherries in this recipe. If using dried cherries, allow them to soak in boiling water before adding them to the recipe so they are nice and moist.
What you want to do, is
- Preheat the oven to 350F/180C.
- Lightly grease a loaf pan or spray with cooking spray. I recommend vegetable oil with a silicone paint brush
- Mix the flour and baking soda together in a bowl.
- In another bowl, cream together the white sugar, brown sugar and butter or margarine. You do want to do it thoroughly, otherwise brown sugar will hang around in milk in most undesirable fashion
- Add in the beaten eggs, milk and vanilla and mix really well until you have a smooth, runny mixture.
- Add the mashed bananas into the wet mixture.
- Slowly add in the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, stirring constantly.
- Stir in the cherry halves and chopped walnuts.
- Spoon the mixture into your prepared loaf pan and bake at 350F/180C for around 1 hour 20 minutes. Cooking times may vary, so check if the loaf is ready by inserting a knife or toothpick into the center of the loaf. It should come out clean when the loaf is ready.
When the loaf is cooked fully remove from the oven and allow to cool in the loaf pan before removing from the pan and placing on a wire cooling rack to cool fully.