Banana Bread

One of my favourite fruits is the versatile banana.  Bananas are a great source of nutrition they contain potassium which is known to help reduce the risk of, heart associated diseases - high blood pressure, stroke and heart attack. They contain electrolytes which help maintain our body’s fluid levels and this can prevent dehydration. Accordingly bananas are a great portable source of nutrition for cyclists or endurance athletes. They also contain vitamin B6 and folate.

If you buy green bananas you can speed up the ripening process by storing them in a brown paper bag.  If the bananas start to over ripen they can be frozen in their skins and used later in smoothies or for baking muffins or banana bread.

Recently we recently had a glut of bananas in our household which resulted in me trying out this recipe originally sourced from Martha Stewart Living, August 2004 and adapted to suit my available baking ingredients. Why not make a double batch and either freeze one for another day or better still give one to a friend.

Ingredients

½ cup softened butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 ½ cups plain flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup mashed ripe bananas

½ cup plain yoghurt or blueberry yoghurt

1 tsp vanilla essence

½ cup chopped walnuts

Preheat fan forced oven to 180C.

Line a loaf pan with baking paper or butter the loaf pan.

Cream the soft butter and sugar with your mixer or hand whisk until it becomes light and fluffy then add an egg, whisk, and then add the final egg and whisk until the mixture is incorporated.

In a separate bowl, blend the flour, nuts, baking soda, and salt.

Add to the creamed butter mixture with the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Fold in the bananas, yoghurt, and vanilla essence into the creamed butter mixture.

Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for 60 to 70 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Rest in the loaf pan until cool, turn out and serve.