Banana Bread Recipe

Banana bread, the bread that's really cake, but not too sweet, plenty of chew to it, perfect in the morning with a cup of tea. No need to ice it, in fact better not and just the thing to use up that bunch of overripe bananas in the fruit bowl, that are perfectly ok but no-one will eat cos they're just beginning to go squishy. It keeps well too.

Banana Bread Recipe

240g plain flour
125g butter
250ml/1cup sugar
4 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
2 eggs
2ml salt
5ml bicarbonate of soda
65ml water
7ml baking powder

Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in mashed bananas and beat to combine thoroughly. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
Sift the flour and salt into the mixture and stir in. Dissolve the bicarb into the water and stir in then add the baking powder stirring again. Pour the mixture into a greased and lined large loaf tin and bake at 180C for about 45 mins. It is done when a skewer comes out clean and the top is firm and springy. Cool in the tin.

The first rains of autumn have started this weekend, which meant a Saturday afternoon of keeping the children busy inside. It is funny how on a sunny day they are perfectly capable of keeping themselves busy inside, but if it's raining suddenly organised activity is called for. My answer is to put them to work baking biscuits.

The seven and five year olds can manage, with only a little help to weigh ingredients, then I leave them to it, shut my eyes and deal with the mess later. The three year old doesn't want to be left out, but only really wants to taste the mixture and cut out the odd cookie, so it is more an exercise in diplomacy than a culinary adventure. But the afternoon goes by quickly and they can proudly offer their own biscuits to visiting family later on. I used recipes, surprise surprise, from Nigella Lawson's 'How to Eat', which has a great section on cooking with children. The cheese biscuit recipe is very tasty and is our standard thing to take to school festivals and for kids parties, the adults scoff them down pretty quickly too.