Banana bread. Well, muffins.

My father somehow got hold of this book and it’s so small, it kind of got lost amongst all the other larger cookbooks we own. But I found it the other day, and started to flip through it. The recipes are all really simple, and so delicious-sounding, but I had to put it aside until my exams were over so I could concentrate on studying. But now they are over! And today, my first real day off since the holidays started (since I had to work all weekend) I sat down and took a serious look through the book. I made a list of all the recipes I wanted to try, and then decided to make the banana bread since I had a couple of bananas in the fruit bowl that were going quite brown. Except when I looked through my cake tin pile I realized I didn’t have an oblong loaf tin that this recipe calls for….I so thought I had one!! I added it to the shopping list & decided to make this recipe into muffins instead. I had to change the recipe a little because I didn’t have any buttermilk, so I just used plain milk, and though I didn’t add any this time, you could add some ground nutmeg or cinnamon to enhance the flavour of the banana.

You will need:

1 & 1/2 cups Plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

125 grams softened Butter

1 cup Sugar

2 Eggs

2 very ripe Bananas, mashed with a fork

1/2 cup Milk

pinch salt

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius, and grease 5×9″ loaf tin, or a muffin tin (I used patty pans in mine).

Cream butter & sugar together with an electric beater. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the mashed bananas, again beating in well. Start to add the dry ingredients (the original recipe said to sift the flour & baking powder & salt together but I can never be bothered doing that) a little at a time, alternating each addition with a little milk. Beat until well combined.

Spoon mixture into loaf tin or muffin tray. Baking takes 55-60 minutes in the loaf tin, or for muffins about 25 minutes. Test by inserting a metal skewer into the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean, it is ready.

Bananas are really cool. Those little black flecks weren’t in the batter when I made it, but they magically appeared during cooking! I’ve already eaten two muffins, they are so wonderfully moist and the outsides are just a tiny bit crispy….just perfect!

Big thanks to Andrew for lending me his camera for these photos today

A cup of Caramel Custard

What to cook when you are full of inspiration yet lacking ingredients? Look in the cupboard, find the basics. Flour, check. Sugar, check. And in the fridge: milk, butter, eggs. Check! With these ingredients (and, some vanilla) you can make a simple yet delectable dessert. An optional extra is whatever is in your fruit basket at the time, in this case a banana.

Firstly, make the caramel. It stays hot for a long time so it won’t matter if it sits there for a few minutes while you make the custard. I used Elise’s recipe over at Simply Recipes, it’s a great tutorial. Be careful though, when you add the cream it really does froth up!! Took me a little by surprise but worked out great.

Now for the custard I used a tried & true recipe of mine and I don’t even know where I got it from (sometime before the internet existed I think). You will need:

4 egg yolks

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup plain flour

1 & 1/2 cups milk

Vanilla essence to taste

Combine all ingredients, except the vanilla, in a medium saucepan (a whisk works well to make a smooth mixture). Cook over low heat, stirring all the time, until it thickens & boils. Stir in the vanilla essence. Makes 3-4 serves.

Serve into small bowls or ramekins, add your fruit of choice if desired, and spoon over a little caramel sauce to top it off (it’s very sweet, I only had a little bit). The caramel recipe makes too much, but it keeps for two weeks in the fridge.

I love my homemade custard. I have never ever bought boxed custard from a store, and as long as I have this recipe, I never will!