Date and Banana Loaf

Who needs dainty, cupcakey, frippery and frou-frou?  This is a solid, gulag-style old-fashioned loaf that demands you cut off a great big hulking slab, slather it with butter and eat it accompanied by builders tea.

It's not all hulk and bulk though.  The bananas make it lovely and moist, the dates are sticky and gooey, it's low in fat, big on taste and only takes 15 minutes to make.

Recently I've been making a real effort to clear the kitchen counter before starting to bake and to get out all my ingredients and utensils beforehand.  This may be elementary to many but typically, when I bake, it's chaos and not organised chaos just chaos, chaos.  I used to use the excuse that creative geniuses are never organised but then I began to realise I was just being plain stupid.

So now, as you can see above, all is pristine and calm.  Even the bananas look calm.

Recipe:

300g self-raising flour - I used Doves Gluten-Free Self Raising Flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

125g chopped dates

half a cup [125ml] caster sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp of ground nutmeg
2 large or 3 medium bananas - about a cup full of whipped banana but no matter if it's slightly more

1 cup [250ml] milk - I used semi-skimmed

2 large eggs

2lb capacity or 21.5x10.5cm loaf tin

Method:

• 
  
  Sift the self-raising flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and nutmeg into a large mixing bowl.
• 
  
  Stir through the dates and sugar
• 
  
  Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients
• 
  
  In another medium size mixing bowl chop up the banana into slices
• 
  
  Whisk the banana slices until smooth-ish
• 
  
  Add the eggs and milk and whisk briefly together until combined
• 
  
  Pour half the banana mixture into the dry ingredients and combine at a low speed until blended
• 
  
  Add remaining banana mixture and combine until just blended [don't over-mix]
• 
  
  Pour mixture into a greased or lined loaf tin
• 
  
  Bake for 50 mins at 180 degrees [as I use a fan oven I bake it for 40 minutes -turning the tin around half way through]

The very yummy result:

This is the view out my kitchen window.  I'm in lambikins heaven at the moment.