Today Mr B and I sat at the local market from 7:30am until 2:00pm trying to sell some of my clothes so I could make enough money to buy 'sensible' clothes to take to Europe with me....
Yesterday I brought my first ever (yes I am 26....) pair of sensible adult jeans....no big flarey bell bottoms, can be worn with sneakers without dragging through across the ground....it was all very scary, but after wearing them all day today I've come to the conclusion they actually look better with heels then all my flarey jeans did...so said flarey jeans subsequently spent the day on the market table (sorry flarey jeans....we had some good times, but I just can't do it anymore, I will always remember you fondly)
Anyway, so that explains why I am slightly exhausted and delirious at this stage, but it doesn't explain how I nearly got eaten alive by duckies yesterday....that is a story for another day....
What I will explain to you is how I came to bake these two incredibly smelling (and hopefully tasting) loaves on Friday night!
You see I get home from work and no matter how tired I am, I want to drop my bags at the door and get up to my elbows in flour and butter and baking goodness. I was meeting up with my best friend on Saturday (who I previously mentioned has just told us she is pregnant so I am in a constant state of over excited baking frenzy for her and bubba choppa) and one of the ladies I work with has recently brought her first home and moved in only last week so to me, that is 2 amazingly good reasons to come home and bake a loaf (or 2) of goodness!
First off we went with the Banana and Honey Loaf for Ali as it has very little sugar and let's be honest, who doesn't love a good banana bread??
You will need:
100g butter
1/3 cup honey
2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 cup firmly-packed brown sugar
1 cup milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 ripe bananas, peeled, mashed
Preheat oven to 180°C and grease and line a loaf tin.
Combine the butter, honey and sugar in a microwave-safe bowl and cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until melted.
Sift flours, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and cinnamon into a large bowl. Stir in the milk, egg, banana and butter mixure. Stir with a metal spoon until just combined.
Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake for 60 to 70 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. This loaf does rise quite a bit so just watch where you put it in the oven! Cool loaf in pan for 10 minutes before lifting onto a wire rack to cool completely.
And for my second trick I made this Date Loaf
All you will need is:
125g pitted dates
1.5 tspns bicarb soda
1 cup water
50g butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup plain flour
Pre-heat the oven to 180C and grease and line a loaf tin.
In a microwave safe bowl combine the dates, water, bicarb, butter and sugar.
Cook for 4-5 mins or until the dates are well and truly softened and the mixture is thickened. Allow to cool for 2-3 mins.
In a bowl combine the flours and egg.
Pour over the date mixture and stir to combine.
Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for around 40 mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
And most importantly, share them with someone you love....or steal a quiet moment to yourself and enjoy them whilst curled up with a book and a cuppa!!
Mrs B xx
No comments:
Post a Comment