Zombies, Banana Bread and Black Coffee!!

I don’t mind telling you I am a lazy soul today.  I’ve only just dragged myself rather disgruntledly, I might add, from the squidgy, fluffy, feathery loveliness of my evening abode.  It was with a great deal of effort that I sluggishly pulled back the duvet and one by one put my feet on the floor.  After having hit snooze a thousand times I felt that the day was finally ready for my presence.  Stretching tall, bones creaking and noises escaping from deep within, sounding nothing short of zombish.  If you were in the other room you would have been forgiven for thinking that you had become engulfed in a zombie apocalypse and at any moment the disheveled, shuffling creature emerging from the bedroom would try to eat you.  Luckily no one else was home….

A serious lack of energy and motivation has enveloped me today.  Black coffee was required in abundance if anything productive was going to come out of my being.  In the kitchen an array of yesterday’s dishes await me, a lack of milk for porridge making forces me to the cupboard in search of alternative breakfast delights.  Behold, the Banana Bread baked by ones own pale and somewhat pasty hands.  I think you will agree, such sustenance is just the right prescription for an ailment of slothfulness.  Several slices later and something resembling human has appeared at its laptop albeit still pajama clad with a very messy mop of hair.  Well Bananas can only do so much can’t they?

I didn’t eat it all I promise!

Here’s the recipe for you to try

Banana Bread

Adapted from Paul Hollywood’s Banana Bread  with Walnuts – Paul Hollywood, How to Bake.

Ingredients

4 Medium very ripe bananas, roughly mashed up

250g/8.8oz caster sugar

125g/4.5oz  unsalted butter, softened

2 medium eggs

250g/8.8oz plain flour

2 tsp. baking powder

Method

Preheat the oven to 190 Celsius/375 Fahrenheit or Gas Mark 5.

Use a hand held whisk or mixer to cream together the banana and sugar, until they become fluffy.  Add in the butter and beat until it is all combined.  Next, beat in the eggs, one at a time along with a tablespoon of flour with each.

Sift the remaining flour and baking powder into the mixture and fold it all in.  (you can add 120g/4.2oz of walnut pieces at this point.  I didn’t have any in so skipped them).

Grease and line a loaf tin, empty in the mixture spreading evenly.  Bake the banana bread in the oven for 40 minutes or until a knife/skewer inserted into the centre, comes out clean.  (In my oven this bread takes 1 hour, so judge for yourselves depending on how your oven tends to bake)

When completely cooked, remove from the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Some great and easy recipes to try in Paul’s book.

Verdict

This is a scrummy banana bread, deliciously moist and with a great bananary flavour.  Depending on how ripe your bananas are and how sweet you like things, you might want to play around with the amount of sugar, as it is quite a lot.  I may reduce the sugar by as much as half next time I bake it.  This cake is great for breakfast in a hurry, elevenses (as my Nana called them)  and can easily be packed for a snack on the move.  I’m not sure how healthy it is considering the amount of sugar, but it has got to be better than something full of additives and preservatives. 

Difficulty

It’s so, so easy to make, you really have no excuse for buying something like this from a shop.

For more information about Paul Hollywood check out his website at http://paulhollywood.com/

♥♥♥

Unfortunately, despite prolonged and determined wishing a pixie or fairy has not arrived to float gracefully above my head creating bouncy curls, wave its magic wand over my pajamas, clad me in clothes befitting of the day or tackle the now increased pile of dishes.  And so, a zombish groooooaaaaan returns and I leave you in order to do the needful.  

Peace and Love

Ginger and Cream xoxo