Banana's

so... i've managed to come down with some bug (i don't do bugs. and actually it's pretty rare that they do me, so i'm beyond unimpressed) i've lost my voice - husband is delighted as i can only manage to squeak (furiously) and it's become very easy for him to ignore me completely and come out with an innocent "oh sorry darling, i didn't hear you" comment.

in an effort to distract myself i decided to do some baking - actually it was the blackening bananas that got me, another day and they were going to end up in the bin & i HATE wasting food, so banana bread was begging to be made.  (for a slightly more bizarre, if not downright disturbing cake recipe - have a look at what my friend Gen found while trawling the food blogs!)

Banana bread:

4/5 extremely ripe banna's - mashed

225g self raising flour & a pinch of salt

150g sugar

125g unsalted butter - melted

50g pecan - roughly chopped

a good handful of dates - diced

2 eggs (if you want a moister version use 3 eggs)

1tspn vanilla essence

Preheat your oven to 170 C (if you're using a fan oven it's about 150C).  In a large bowl, mix the melted butter and sugar and then beat in the eggs - 1 at a time.  Add the mushed up banana's and stir in the pecan's, dates & vanilla essence. Next add the flour (a little at a time) until it is all well mixed.

Scrape the mixture into a lined loaf tin

and bake in the oven for between an hour & 1 hour 15min (mine took just under an hour so it depends on the fierceness of your oven!)  it's ready when you can stick a knife in & it comes out cleanish.

leave it on a rack to cool

then enjoy!