Banana Bread

It's hard to believe that most of the year has gone by and we're into the last two months of 2013! For the final two months of the year, Cook Like A Star will be cooking with Australian chef Bill Granger - a self taught chef and food writer who owns several restaurants around the world. If you don't already have his books, you can find Bill's recipes all over the web including here and here. 

I've tried several of Bill's recipes and I like his fuss free cooking which produces delicious results. The hosts for the Bill Granger event is Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out and myself. You can link up your November blog post at any of our blogs mentioning that: 

This is for Cook Like A Star hosted by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out and Mich of Piece of Cake. 

Bill's Banana Bread was the first recipe I tried and I enjoyed this soft yet springy loaf filled with the fragrance of ripened bananas and topped with crunchy almonds. The aroma of bananas mixed with cinnamon wafted from the oven while it was baking and I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into a slice.

To make it a healthier version, I substituted the butter with olive oil but I am sure it would be a lot more delicious with butter. Use really ripe bananas and I don't think we need all the sugar that is called for in the recipe. In fact I reduced it by a large amount and it was sweet enough for my family. 

Banana Bread (2 loaves)
A Bill Granger Recipe

Ingredients

• 45g brown sugar
• 30g almonds, chopped
• 255ml sour cream (I used yoghurt)
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 100g unsalted butter, melted (replaced with 100g olive oil)
• 230g caster sugar (I used 180g)
• 2 medium eggs
• 250g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 250g mashed ripe banana {2-3 bananas}

Method

• Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celcius. Grease and line two loaf tins {10 x 18cm}. 
• In a small bowl mix the brown sugar and almonds. This gets sprinkled on the top before popping in the oven.
• In a large bowl, mix together the bicarb soda and the sour cream and leave to stand for 5 minutes.
• Stir in the melted butter, sugar and eggs.
• In another bowl, mix the flour, the baking powder and cinnamon and then gradually add to the wet ingredients… folding gently. Add the mashed banana. Don’t overmix.
• Divide the batter between the two tins. Sprinkle them with the sugar and almond mixture. Place in the oven and cook for 50 mins to 1 hour ( I baked mine for 35 mins).

This is for Cook Like A Star hosted by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out and Mich of Piece of Cake.