Banana Bread

Every time I pop down to Kent whether it is to see friends, attend a meeting, or help staff the Children's Activity Holiday, you can guarantee that I will always come back up with a home made Banana Bread in my bag. 'The Hartley's' Banana Bread is infamous amongst the holiday staff and it is no secret that it is one of my FAVOURITE sweet things to feast on. (It's also pretty much guaranteed that by the time I arrive at King's Cross that i've already started tucking in to 'The Hartley's' speciality.) So, with 5 ripe bananas soon to be considered unusable, there was only one thing I could do with them...BANANA BREAD!!

***

Ingredients

225g Self-Raising Flour

1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

Pinch of Salt

100g Caster Sugar

100g Butter

1tbsp Golden Syrup

450g Mashed Bananas

2 Eggs

1tsp Lemon Juice

1. Preheat the oven to 180degreesC. Line and grease a 23cm loaf tin (I don't have a loaf tin, so I just use a square cake tin).

2.Sift the flour, cinnamon, salt and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Chop the butter into small cubes and add to the flour mixture. Using your finger tips, massage the butter into the mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs.

3. Add the golden syrup, mashed bananas, eggs and lemon juice and stir thoroughly until everything is mixed in together and has the consistency of cake mix. Make sure no dry ingredients are viewable. 

4. Bake in the oven for 40mins and then reduce the temperature to 170degreesC and allow to bake for another 20mins or until the bread/cake it dark in colour, has risen considerably and is soft to the touch. Leave in the tin for 15mins to cool and then remove from the tin and place on a cooling rack. (I normally can't wait and have a slice when it is still warm with a cup of tea....yum-me!)

***

Absolutely-blooming-gorgeous!! Mine looks a little stodgey, but for me, it's perfect! Slightly crispy on the outside, warm and doughy in the inside. Must admit though, it's not quite as good as 'The Hatley's' as their's is more bready than mine..mine is more of a cake. Not a bad second best though!

So, it's a very simple recipe and doesn't require many ingredients that you don't already have in your cupboard. Perfect if, like me, you have some rather ripe bananas that you don't fancy eating just as they are. If you are feeling fancy, you could always sprinkle some icing sugar on the top to make it look a bit more 'professional', but I'm not fancy!!! Perfect warm with a nice brew :-)

Bon Appetit!!