Finally - something sweet!
Over lockdown, every man and their dog was making banana bread. I managed to curb the urge to join the trend until June 2020, when I made a loaf and it was...soggy? I had no measuring spoons or cups of whatever, and thought well I guess when I cook so surely I have a great natural chef's eye and can just guess yay...WRONG. Pro Tip #1 (wow we're getting started early today): measure measure MEASURE!
A few weeks later, I was going to see my good pal Suz up in Scotland, and what does every good wife do but bring baked goods wherever they go, so I got cracking on trying to make a proper banana bread.
This shit is B-A-N-A-N-A-B-R-E-A-D - find the official recipe here.
Cuts comfortably into 8 pieces depending on the size of your loaf tin.
Ingredients:
140g butter (plus extra to line your tin
140g caster sugar
2 large eggs beaten in a bowl
140g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 very ripe bananas - mash these with a fork or masher
Chocolate chips/drops
Decoration:
50g icing sugar
Banana chips
Recipe:
Pre-heat that oven - a very important step! 180C/160C fan/ gas 4. I never know what the gas version means so check your oven.
Butter(face) your loaf tin. It should be 2lb. I didn't have one (obviously) so I got one from Morrisons - it was not expensive at all and well worth it if you want to look like you know what you're doing and want to feel like an adult. After you've buttered - line your tin with baking parchment - again get yourself to your supermarket: it never goes out of date so what have you got to lose.
Measure out all your ingredients - it makes everything easier in the end!
Cream 140g softened butter and 140g caster sugar until light and fluffy in a big glass bowl. I have to look this up too don't worry. If, like me, you do not have a kitchenmaid or food processor, then you can use a wooden spoon to smoosh (technical term) your butter and sugar together. Once successfully smooshes, grab a fork and do the same motion as you would to whisk something (round and round in the bowl). After this, slowly add in your beaten eggs (beat with a fork in a seperate bowl before adding in), with a little of the flour.
Fold in the remaining flour, 1 tsp baking powder and the 2 mashed bananas - flip the mixture from one side of the bowl over to the other like you're folding a shirt, if that shirt was made of creamy-banana-y fluffy mixture. Now is the time to also add in your choccy chips, if you want to have that extra sweetness in your loaf. Fun fact, on my first try I though f*ck it how bad can it be if I add in an extra banana... bananas hold a lot of wetness in them and that's why my first loaf was a soggy mess.
Pour your mixture into the loaf tin. Bake for 50 minutes. Pro Tip: get a long skewer/knife and stick it in the centre of the loaf at 40 mins so you can see how much time you need to keep it in for - if you see no smooshy bits on your knife, it's pretty much there. The centre should be solid as a rock (that's how you know it's cooked). The time can vary depending on your loaf tin too, so keep an eye on it.
Once the time is up and your loaf is looking fine, pull it out of the oven, let it cool in the tin for 10 mins then move it to a wire rack/ cooling tray.
Icing time (once your loaf is very very cool)!! Mix 50g of icing sugar with 2-3tsp of tap water, or add more if you want runnier icing. Then drizzle the icing sugar over your banana bread. After this, add in your banana chips, and some extra chocolate chips if you're feeling fancy. You can try and be as creative as me...you can try.
Et voila! You have baked!!!
Let me know if you give this a go - it's an easy recipe and tastes amazing!