Rainy Day Banana Bread

It’s been raining. I don’t know why I’m suprised, this is Ireland after all! The rain has been pounding down hard for the last few days and the river that runs infront of The Glen House is rising fast. The ground around the house is slippy and soggy, everything is just a bit yucky.

What was needed was something comforting to go with a cuppa while the wood burning stove was blazing. With 4 ripe bananas sat in the fruit bowl, the answer was staring me in the face! I love banana bread, but I really love banana bread with the addition of dried fruit and nuts.

I pulled out a tried and tested recipe from Nigella’s book ‘How to be a Domestic Godess’; I swapped the walnuts for pecans and hey presto, rum, raisin and pecan banana bread!

Ingredients :
100 g sultanas
75ml rum
175 g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
125 g unsalted butter (melted)
150 g caster sugar
2 large eggs
4 very ripe bananas (mashed)
60g chopped pecans
1 tsp vanilla extract

Put the sultanas and rum in a small saucepan and bring to the boil.

Remove from the heat, cover and leave for an hour, or until the sultanas have absorbed most of the liquid, then drain.

Preheat the oven to 170ºC.

Put the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a medium-sized bowl and, combine well.

In a large bowl, mix the melted butter and sugar and beat until blended. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the mashed bananas.

Then, with your wooden spoon, stir in the pecans, drained sultanas and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture, a third at a time, stirring well after each bit.

Scrape into a loaf tin (23 x 13 x 7cm) and bake in the middle of the oven for 1-1¼ hours.

When you think it’s ready, place a skewer into the centre and it should pull out clean. Leave in the tin on a rack to cool, and eat thickly or thinly sliced, as you prefer.

It’s Friday, so I’m bringing this loaf to Angie’s for Fiesta Friday, I might see you there?

Melissa xx