Hope you are all well, wherever you are in the world this fine day. So, I have a banana bread recipe for you today for Good Life Wednesdays…a recipe that rocks my little beach cottage socks.
This is the proverbial Beach Cottage Too Easy Banana Bread Recipe…if you can mix things in a bowl and put something in the oven, you can make it.
As ever with anything I ever cook or bake, this uses regular ingredients you won’t need to go on a mountain trek to acquire, it can be made with minimal fuss, one bowl, washing up is big time low, and most importantly, get the violins out, for this KitchenAid less woman (Mr Beach Cottage, you had better read my Christmas List or there will be some serious broomstick riding this year) it requires no fancy cooking instruments…a vintage mixing bowl and a wooden spoon are about as difficult as it gets…
When we first moved to Australia, I had never heard of banana bread, let alone tasted it….so a recipe for it was certainly not on the radar…back in the Old Country, as far as I remember, in the world I moved in, Banana Bread is not widespread.
So I first had this in a little cafe down by the wharf…we had walked, early one morning, with the kiddos on their scooters into town for coffee and a mooch around…we had no friends in those days and everything was bright and new to us….little differences from our old life (like walking by the sea!) were everywhere, including the silliest things, like how you order a coffee/ferry ticket/cup of tea (here ‘Can I get?’ is said more, whereas before I would say ‘Can I have?’), how you say greet someone and ask how they are (‘G’day, how you going?’ as opposed to ‘Good Morning, how are you doing?’).
Anyway, this particular morning was one of those…we sat down in this little cafe at the end of the walk and the Beach Cottage kiddos went down to play on the sand…we wanted something to go with our coffee and undecided asked the waitress what she recommended…She said that a fresh batch of banana bread had just been pulled out of the oven so why don’t we have a go with that….?
Sounded pretty good to us, though to be honest we weren’t quite sure what it would taste like… so it arrived toasted to just the right degree and on the side was a little dish of butter and one of honey.
Oh yes.
This was the morning coffee treat of my dreams, and I mean, hello, it’s got fruit in it, so it’s healthy and guilt free, right? I can have this every day to fulfill one of my fruit portions. Hahaha.
Well that’s not a joke, ‘cos for the first couple of years here, I about ate this every single day…I think I have tested every kind of banana bread one can…including raspberry banana bread, chocolate banana bread, sugarless, with figs…you name it I have researched it on my quest for all things banana bread.
A few months into this journey I decided I needed to quit buying and start to find a banana bread recipe I loved…what ALWAYS puts me off the ones you buy, is when you look at the ingredients, there sure are a few more things than banana in there…I am no food snob for sure, but I never like the idea of too many e-numbers and things whose names I cannot pronounce in my little treats.
Soooo, I started looking out for a banana bread recipe and making my own. With fairly mixed results to start with. The first few I made were way too sugary, some were too dry and ‘bready’.. plus a lot of the banana bread recipe links I found didn’t seem to be banan-y enough for me.
Until I found this little beauty banana bread recipe…I copied if off of the back of some packet or another, so it certainly is not my very own ..though I did reduce the sugar a bit for a less sweet taste…
The reason I love it? It’s errs on the side of cake which I prefer in a banana bread recipe, rather than a bread, but at the same time it is bread enough to toast…there’s just enough banana but not overly to make it squelchy and too moist, though at the same time it is moist.
The best thing is though, it is one of my Dump & Go’s (and I am running out of my original handful of recipes that I have perfected over the last xx years or so…but no worries, I have come late to baking in life and am gathering them around me faster than you can say Banana Bread Recipe )
Beach Cottage Too Easy Banana Bread Recipe
1 cup ripe bananas
2 cups plain flour
110g butter
2 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1tsp baking powder
1. mash bananas
2. add butter and sugar to bowl & combine til’ creamy
3. add all other ingredients & mix
It may not look particularly appetising
dump in a greased loaf pan and bake 180C/365F for 50 mins or until skewer comes out clean…
devour with your morning coffee and think of your little baking friend on the beaches…. hahaha
*beach cottage notes add a teaspoon of vanilla extract for a lovely twist, your bananas can be nearly dead and black & it’ll still be lovely, throw in a few chocolate chips for your kiddos, sprinkle a handful of chopped walnuts on top, or indeed throughout…I don’t always do walnuts cos one of my kiddos isn’t so keen…but it’s even better!
If you try this banana bread recipe, you’ll love it…you will never buy it from a store again…it’s brain-dead easy, tasty, healthy (c’mon there’s bananas in it)…but don’t blame me if you can’t stop the addicition….
Made Sarah’s yummy banana bread yesterday and I can attest that it is delish!
My kids were raving about it and were super excited to have it in their lunch boxes today!
Means I get to be a super fantastic Mummy!!
It also smells divine while baking, super easy and like Sarah said it does tend more towards cake than bread, which I love as I am a cake gal through and through.
Doubt it will last long in this house, so am bound to be baking it again by the weekend.
Thanks Sarah for this fab recipe.
I am starting to call myself a baker after all the baking I do around this place lately and would once have never have said that!
I am waiting for my bananas to die off a bit to make this recipe. Can’t wait to try it as I too are a banana bread lover, and the ones you get at cafes tend to taste a bit to commercial. You should be able to cut it up and freeze it and then pop it into the toaster. Do you think?
I love banana bread and it used to be one of my baking staples and I’d bake a couple at a time slice them and freeze individual portions so was easy lunchbox solution each day…and then banana industry was slammed by a couple of cyclones and you needed to lay-by bananas as they got soooo expensive so I switched to my no fail orange almond cake!! Super easy – you do need to boil the oranges for a while, let them cool and then pulverise them in the food processor (so slightly more cleaning up) but the rest is all one bowl stuff 6 eggs, 250g almond meal, 250g caster sugar (I use rapadura), 1 tsp baking powder, add the oranges in and mix it all up, prep your pan and bake away. Thing I love about this is it keeps a whole week in the fridge if it lasts that long it can also be served as quick dessert and can be prettied up with that magic dusting of icing sugar. I always have to put extra slices in my hubbies lunchbox as his team also love it.
I’m so happy you gave this recipe today…I could literally live on banana bread and am always looking for a new and better recipe to try. I’m vegan so I do try them all with my subsitutes and have yet to find one that is more cake than bread. I can’t wait to try the BC recipe as soon as my bananas blacken a bit!
Thanks for all your great advice, lovely pictures and wonderful stories ~
Sarah xo
I, too, love banana bread and will certainly try yours. One thing tho – I love nuts in mine. Trader Joe’s sells shelled, salted pistachio nuts and I toss in a fist full and oh my it’s yummy.
My husband loves banana bread, and I love how easy this looks. And, glory be, I actually have all of these ingredients, so no mountain treks in order. Will try!
Damm it Sarah! Now I need a piece! too lazy (and too hot here today) to bake today… maybe I will take myself out for a coffee and cake x Looking forwards to trying it out soon though.
Hi Sarah,
I was off to vote for one blog or another on the Nuffnang website and liked the sound of your URL so I clicked it. I’m so glad I found your blog! You’ve done such a beautiful job with your layout, writing style, images, everything, that I will definitely be back on a regular basis
Banana bread rocks! Thanks for the recipe. Just in time for the new influx of bananas at the growers mart. Here in WA, we have been paying obscene amounts after the QLD and Carnarvon floods. I have just seen them at the lowest price in 18 months at $4.99/kg.
PS. got my vote (and I really don’t usually bother doing stuff like that). x
Hi Sarah, I hadn’t ever tasted banana bread until I moved to Australia either and my little one was just a toddler at the time and absolutely adored it. I have tried various recipes over the years and like you some are too wet, too dry, tasteless etc. I’m looking forward to trying this one. We have made your chocolate dump and go little cakes a few times and they are always spot on thank you.
Just on another note – what’s all this with your nomination? Fantastic! You deserve it, well done you.
x
mmm… I just made banana bread yesterday! My recipe that I’ve been using for years is similar to yours except I use plain white sugar instead of brown, add a splash of vanilla and include baking soda as well which makes it rise a little bit more. I’ve never actually tried toasting it – I may have to give that a go – I think there is still a little bit left!
I am a lousy baker but this is too tempting. God, I so need a piece now…you are terrific you know. I am coming to the beach cottage, uninvited, shamelessly I know this might sound a bit stupid but will a hald pound loaf pan do? Or is there a specific dimension you use for optimum results?
I’ve always loved banana bread – my gran had the best recipe. I made it often (before banana prices went ridiculous) and now that they are at a relatively normal price again I’ll be making more. Great for ankle biters lunch boxes!
Tip for free: the riper the banana the sweeter the bread. If you use older bananas then use the amount of sugar required in the recipe for that just sweet enough taste.
et voila ! done, i voted for you and…. i’m going to move to the kitchen now bcz (or thanks ?!) to you even so I have a big cold ! well i’ll take that as a medicine purpose
i enjoy each time my visit on your blog, you make me laugh each time
a bientot !
Yummy! My husband cooks banana bread every Sunday night for the kids to take to school. Love your photos. I think our kitchens are opposite… Yours is so sunny!
Cheers Fiona
yum. I always make a Bill Granger one but I may well give this little beauty a whirl……… Thankyou
I’ve made that orange & almond cake that was mentioned above in a previous comment….. it is 100% worth it. I make it as a large flan and there is always enough to make some friands…… divine.
Thanks for the recipe and hosting this every week!
I have a question, where can I find more about your photo techniques?
Camera, lighting or any tips? I remember you writing about it before but I can’t find it, (or am I mistaken?)
Thanks and have a Good Wednesday!
Maureen x
Thanks for doing all that taste testing and leg work for us to deliver the *perfect banana bread recipe*!
As I said on FB- we usually do banana muffins so I can throw them in lunch boxes and I just checked my recipe- there is very little difference, though I think my mums {yep- this is a handed down from my mum when I was a little girl recipe!} is more cakey…
I am onto this girl- as an Aussie – I always have banana’s going *brown* in this kitchen for exactly this- and yes my Brits friends loved it!
Here’s my mums- all in one bowl like yours – and then bung into cupcake patties or bigger muffin tins.
Banana Muffins
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs lightly beaten
2 cups mashed banana
dash vanilla
2 cups SR flour
1 tsp bicarb
1/2 cup milk
let me know if you make some- so easy for taking to kids sporting events- which we both do alot of!
Off to try the bread now- will let you know!
melissa x
Let me count the ways that I love banana bread! I am going to try this recipe- I always take banana bread along on Thanksgiving! (with chocolate chips, oopsy)
Thank you for hosting!
Kerry at HouseTalkN
I don’t know why my typing is so off today….I mean, not to join my blog but the upcoming linky party to show your favourite and best finds….sigh….excuse my third-not-so-cleverly-written-comment Sarah…bye now!
Maureen x
Well that looks easy enough. ❈ And I’m all about the easy! Think I’ll give it a shot for baking Friday…(I try to contain the baking for the people to just once a week, keeps my bathroom scale in check.) Off to vote… Have a great day! (Night?)
Making this for the second time this week.
It is THE best banana bread I have ever eaten and my kiddo’s love it!!
Must try your carrot cupcakes next, as Master 7 just tried someone elses carrot cake and has declared he also loves that.
Wow maybe my fussy eater is not so fussy after all.
Thanks Sarah!
I made your banana bread today and you really took me out of my comfort zone. I have never baked using “cup” measurements before, and I’ve been baking since I was knee high to a grasshopper!! But I had bought cup measures last summer which I had never used so I decided to give your recipe a go. I was concentrating so hard on the cups that I forgot to add baking powder. Just as I put the cake in the oven I thought “how is that going to rise, it was plain flour?” I ran and checked the receipe, realised my mistake and took the cake out of the oven immediately. I then set about rescuing the situation by stirring baking powder into the mixture already in the loaf tin. Yes both Mr Bean and Basil Faulty came to mind. But would you believe it turned out fine and my 6yo says its the best bread ever!!!
yay way to go Ellie! using cups was what made me able to bake, for me about a million times easier than weighing stuff out…I would never attempt a recipe if it’s not in cups…but then again I have become pretty good at adapting them now glad the banana bread went down well xo
G'day! I'm Sarah, I live in a tatty old cottage, near the sea in Australia with a battered old deck & a big old fig tree out the back...stripped wooden floors, old sash windows & a jumble of vintage furniture. [Read More …]
Beach Cottage ladies, we have some vintage linen and some wood/twig washed up on the beach today here in Beach Cottage Land….don’t say I don’t keep you entertained now will you . Come on in. So, yep I have posted about colanders on this blog, about things sourced from the side of the road, about [...]
G'day ladies, let's have a Too Easy Beach Cottage recipe yeah? The original place for Too Easy Recipes on the web ;-)
So, after my last salad went down a storm in my inbox, that's here if you missed it, I had to do this one seeing as I make it most weeks.
There is a problem with this salad and kiddos though...it looks, well, it looks, kinda yucky...but once they try it, they'll ask if and when they are next having it....at least that's what happens in this ratty old cottage...but I must interject here that my kiddos are 'good eaters'? ...they didn't get a choice in that ;-)
Now, stop, don't start running and hitting that next on your blog reading list, pulses are your best friend in the Too Easy Dump & Go kitchen for the busy mum, or busy anyone for that matter...that reminds me I must blog the garlic canneloni Go To for when you forgot to do dinner, feel like a bath but have three ravenous young Beach Cottage Kiddos on your hands...another day.
I am almost embarrassed to tell you how easy this is, we have it so much that I always have a couple, make that six, cans of lentils around and a jar of goat's cheese in the fridge...the great thing about this is that it's all too easy to get ready in just a few minutes, but it looks, tastes and seems like you did oh so very much more than that.
You can obviously too change it up a bit depending on what you have to hand in your kitchen, and I must say that is how I settled on this version...because one day when I made it I didn't have enough Parsley in the garden and so I chucked in some basil too, and liked the Summer feel it added.
I think of this as being a rather posh salad, not sure why, because it couldn't really be further from the truth...the great thing is that it works so well for an average run of the mill day, (when I did this for this blog post, it was a hot Sydney Sunday and I did it just simply to go with Rosemary & Garlic stuffed pork, you can see that pork here),
...but just as easily it works on a regular old Wednesday night when you have lost all enthusiasm for rustling up yet another meal, or indeed on Saturday night, when your friends are on their way over for dinner and you my friend, are in your new vintage inspired clawfoot bathtub (that's me in a few weeks time, k?) without any clothes on, a tipple and no idea what to cook for dinner...
I have a complicated and ever-changing relationship with goat's cheese...it never fails me in its performance and it never fails to impress me (you can find out a bit more on what I like in food here if you like) and I kinda collect it...because it's very easy to collect and has a fairly long fridge-life, I love trying out different ones and there's not many things I love more than goat's cheese on sourdough...but I think the best thing about it is not thinking about it exclusively in the toast/salad department...I've stuffed it in chicken and all sorts of things as a last minute and it's been fab.
But let's get down to the nitty gritty of this super salad that makes you look like an angel who has been on her knees all day scrubbing the front step when really you are in the digital world and spent most of ...
G'day Beach Cottage ladies, howdy, howdy howdy today for a Beach Cottage Too Easy recipe.
If you like cake, cream, sugar and chocolate, make this.
This is, rather than a recipe, a putting it together...as you know I am no dessert maker, but, I do make quite a few sweet things, because, somehow I have ended up with kiddos, who in their roles as offspring, believe that part of the deal, is that not only do I feed them a home-cooked meal with a few homegrown ingredients in there, yes, they also believe that dessert and not the kind that comes out of a packet is included too in this All-Inclusive Deal they call Parenthood.
So, this, for sure, is no culinary masterpiece, but if you are looking for something that is so very easy, dump-able, uses everyday ingredients and at the same time makes you look like you spent hours pulling things together plus tastes good....well, then this is for you.
Best though, you don't make this for yourself, if you have spent the most part of your week sitting on your derriere reading blogs...this my friend ain't low in the calories department...if, however, you are treating yourself to a delight in a mason jar, this is so for you.
I first had a version of this when at dinner back in Old Blighty with a girl, I once, in another life, caught the train up from our village to London with...she was a funny thing really...I am not quite sure how we got on...she was kinda prissy and a bit bothered by too much...I would run to the train flustered, having got up late, and she would have a spreadsheet on the train times, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, a few years later when we both had bambinos, I bumped into her again and we met up for playdates and dinner sometimes....this particular night, after a lovely meal she served up little bowls of creamy, cakey fruity stuff topped off with chocolate flake...it was delicious!
She didn't serve hers in little jars like this, hers were in a champagne glass and not quite so layered as these ones, plus she used tinned fruit not fresh or frozen.
Years later when said offspring kept requesting dessert, one day I wangled together somehow these from what was around in the fridge and they've been with us ever since.
Most likely, if you ever come here for dinner, and shock horror, you dont' bring the dessert with you, this, if you are lucky, will be what you will get.
Throw it all together, sprinkle a lil bit of chocolate on the top and the blog reading past-time you so rudely left in order to make this, is my friend, your oyster.
Beach Cottage Too Easy Layered Raspberry, Cream & Sponge Dessert
1 small maderia or butter cake or a pack of cupcakes (or of course make your own)
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
8 tbsp fruit
1 x chocolate Flake or chocolate bar for grating
1. beat the cream cheese until it is soft
2. whip the cream until soft peaks form
3. combine & add the sugar through
4. cut your cake into portions
& layer into the bottom of your jar
5. add a tablespoon of fruit
6. layer on top the cream combo
7. repeat
8. grate chocolate or Flake on top
*Beach Cottage Recipe Notes : this is just a guide really, you can use any cream that you have on hand...I have made this with clotted cream (don't even go there unless you want to seriously get these babies on your thighs), with double cream and I have even, in desperate times squirted in that, ...
G'day Beach Cottage ladies, well I thought it was time for some blogging tips here today, alongside a few nice flowers and shells ;-)
I was recently part of a blogger discussion group over at Kidspot and a couple of hours later had a few questions from girls who couldn't make it to the live chat, one was on my Facebook page and one via email, the Facebook one I will deal with in another Real Girl Blogging Tips post...the email one asked me what essentials do I think every blog needs?
Well I have been around here for a while now doing the blogging thing, so I should know this, yeah and I mused this on my walk by the sea this morning I thought well what do you only need?
...I think it is really very easy when blogging, whether or not you are blogging up there in the lofty heights of the Super Bloggers or you are just dipping your toe in the water, to get side-tracked by 101 million different things that are 'essential' to your blog and if you are someone like me who actually gets a thrill from reading blogging tips then you are in an even worse place because you will find yourself literally buzzing with these essential things to add/do/implement on your blog.
However, walking along, gulping down that brisk sea air today (no sunshine & clouds) I thought you actually don't need any of that professional blogging stuff to be successful...but there are a few things that are pretty much crucial ...and once I started to think about it I got it down to about 5 - these are the only things that you need to concentrate on...once you have read through take a look at some of the big girl's blogs...you'll see that actually they don't have bundles of stuff on their blogs...but they do have all of these...
So here are my top things that your blog must have
1. About Page
There are all sorts of About Pages out there, and if you search on it there are many different tips and ideas for what to have on yours
Whatever blogging platform you use, adding an About Me Page is easy, quick and simple and will do everything to grow your blog.
I like a long-ish About Page, I am inherently nosy and I like to know a bit more about the person but at the least you should have on it your name and where you are located. I also think a photo is good too...over the last year or so I think this has become more important in blogging - if you are hesitant about that as I was, you can try using sunglasses or a behind shot until you get comfortable.
There is nothing worse than stumbling upon a new blog and going to find out more to only be faced with a piddly little one liner About Me Page...well there is something worse, not having one at all!
2. Contact Page
The chances are someone, somewhere will want to contact you and you will be surprised what lands in your inbox once you put yourself out there on the world wide web with a blog.
Many bloggers also use this page to include details for PR's/brands that may want to contact them and some bloggers put their stats on there too.
A short, to the point and simple Contact Page works really well...whenever I have wanted to contact another blogger I am often very busy and have limited time so I don't want to hang around sifting through information looking for an email address, so concise and clear ...
G'day lovely Beach Cottage lovelies.
So, yeah, so on a roll people, so on a roll.
I feel kinda home accessory wired right now.
I am always telling people, if anyone ever listens, that blogging is all about passion, not that sort of passion, but about passion that makes one tick.
Things like this make me tick tick boom.
I love finding things that suit my budget and let me treat my home but look amazing too.
So without further adieu I introduce you, ladies of the beach, to the blue vintage glasses that I have been stroking for about a week or two now...
These glasses are from a little boutique I sometimes happen upon, this boutique sells also pet accessories, carpet cleaner, bras and compost...it's quite unique though.
And, thanks to my friend Marnie (she blogs over here, go take a look at her praying position, interesting), who just so happens to be one day having me over for a lil' Greek dinner, has let me in on the fact that we call Kmart....The KMart...with an accent ....as in 'I love The KMart'...just like her MIL does. Oh yeah. Love that.
So I have had my eye on reproduction vintage glass blue wine glasses and being trying to find real true vintage blue glasses for like ever.
Oh yes I have spied them in Frenchy boutiques, I have lusted after them in stores that I shouldn't even enter and I have put them back pretty quickly in those shops with the hand-written price tags. C'mon, you know the ones.
And, though all of the above have tempted me, muchly, really, even with my wardrobe stashing skills I just thought that, actually, I'd rather be saving that casherooni for our next trip overseas..
Hello The KMart.
Tick Tick Boom
Vintage style blue wine glasses.
Do not come to my old place and think you might pick up one of these and smile with pleasure at their handblown quality, their weight, and be secretly jealous that my wine glasses cost more than your car...friend, that would not happen...these do not feel like that...indeed these in a funny way reminded me of my baby girl, she was a tiny little thing, with stick legs, the tinsssssssiest ankles and wrists you ever did see, she slept sideways in her cot wedged in between rolled up blankets and would only settle attached to Mr Beach Cottage or I or a (dirty) pj top of mine scrunched up under her nose...the first few times I picked her up to cuddle, being used to Honeymoon Baby who weighed in at 9lbs at birth and has never really stopped growing, I nearly threw her little bird-cum-rat down covered body over my shoulder.
These glasses are like that...be careful or you might lose your wine down the front of your shirt.
But oh baby, we are not talking picking up here, we are not talking quality, we are not talking house accessory snobbery.
Beach Cottage ladies, we are talking aesthetics.
And this is what I need in my cottage.
Blue vintage style glass, paired with coastal / nautical / beach stuff on my deck.
It's The KMart.
Tune in tomorrow, tomorrow, I have more budget foofing for your home, or maybe it will be the dress that wraps me up in supermarket-chic and makes me feel like me again.
Good Day to you my friends, wanna come hang out on my deck, talk house accessories, The KMart and drink some wine from blue glasses?
Sarah
)
it looks fantastic!! thanks so much for hosting today sarah.
x
Yummo – try this one – i luuuuuuuuurve it!!!
2 bananas
1 cup sr flour
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 egg
1/4 cup caster sugar
chuck it all in give it a mix dump it in the oven (in a loaf tin lol)
Made Sarah’s yummy banana bread yesterday and I can attest that it is delish!
My kids were raving about it and were super excited to have it in their lunch boxes today!
Means I get to be a super fantastic Mummy!!
It also smells divine while baking, super easy and like Sarah said it does tend more towards cake than bread, which I love as I am a cake gal through and through.
Doubt it will last long in this house, so am bound to be baking it again by the weekend.
Thanks Sarah for this fab recipe.
I am starting to call myself a baker after all the baking I do around this place lately and would once have never have said that!
I love banana bread but I think I’d love it even more if it’s more like cake. Thanks for posting the recipe!
I am waiting for my bananas to die off a bit to make this recipe. Can’t wait to try it as I too are a banana bread lover, and the ones you get at cafes tend to taste a bit to commercial. You should be able to cut it up and freeze it and then pop it into the toaster. Do you think?
yeah, we do that all the time Leah x
I love banana bread and it used to be one of my baking staples and I’d bake a couple at a time slice them and freeze individual portions so was easy lunchbox solution each day…and then banana industry was slammed by a couple of cyclones and you needed to lay-by bananas as they got soooo expensive so I switched to my no fail orange almond cake!! Super easy – you do need to boil the oranges for a while, let them cool and then pulverise them in the food processor (so slightly more cleaning up) but the rest is all one bowl stuff 6 eggs, 250g almond meal, 250g caster sugar (I use rapadura), 1 tsp baking powder, add the oranges in and mix it all up, prep your pan and bake away. Thing I love about this is it keeps a whole week in the fridge if it lasts that long
it can also be served as quick dessert and can be prettied up with that magic dusting of icing sugar. I always have to put extra slices in my hubbies lunchbox as his team also love it.
ooh thanks Caz, sounds interesting…yes this banana bread has not been made for a while because of the weather….x
Sarah (or anybody), do you know how many tablespoons of butter that is? Thanks!
no but if you have a pack of butter there are little lines in there where you can cut the butter up to…I don’t weigh it out….
it’s about 1/2 a cup of butter or one stick but I don’t know in tablespoons
hope that helps x
yeah- i think it’s about half a cup too…or with a square of butter as they do in the UK & Australia- about half of it.
I never had banana bread in my life! It always sounded kind of weird to me, but it looks yummi, so i will try it this time;-)
I’m so happy you gave this recipe today…I could literally live on banana bread and am always looking for a new and better recipe to try. I’m vegan so I do try them all with my subsitutes and have yet to find one that is more cake than bread. I can’t wait to try the BC recipe as soon as my bananas blacken a bit!
Thanks for all your great advice, lovely pictures and wonderful stories ~
Sarah xo
hey you are welcome Sarah, thanks for stopping by my place
Wow! This recipe sounds so yummy. I can’t wait to try this out. Thanks for such a great post.
I, too, love banana bread and will certainly try yours. One thing tho – I love nuts in mine. Trader Joe’s sells shelled, salted pistachio nuts and I toss in a fist full and oh my it’s yummy.
yeah I do too…walnuts in the notes, but one of my kiddos doesn’t so often I skip it
Yum, I have a tried and tested banana bread recepie too, very similar. Will try this one to see the difference. I love banana bread!
My husband loves banana bread, and I love how easy this looks. And, glory be, I actually have all of these ingredients, so no mountain treks in order. Will try!
Damm it Sarah! Now I need a piece! too lazy (and too hot here today) to bake today… maybe I will take myself out for a coffee and cake x Looking forwards to trying it out soon though.
PS voted for you x
thanks Fleur xx
Hi Sarah,
I was off to vote for one blog or another on the Nuffnang website and liked the sound of your URL so I clicked it. I’m so glad I found your blog! You’ve done such a beautiful job with your layout, writing style, images, everything, that I will definitely be back on a regular basis
Emma x
hello Emma, welcome! thanks for the nice comment x
Banana bread rocks! Thanks for the recipe. Just in time for the new influx of bananas at the growers mart. Here in WA, we have been paying obscene amounts after the QLD and Carnarvon floods. I have just seen them at the lowest price in 18 months at $4.99/kg.
PS. got my vote (and I really don’t usually bother doing stuff like that). x
Hi Sarah, I hadn’t ever tasted banana bread until I moved to Australia either and my little one was just a toddler at the time and absolutely adored it. I have tried various recipes over the years and like you some are too wet, too dry, tasteless etc. I’m looking forward to trying this one. We have made your chocolate dump and go little cakes a few times and they are always spot on thank you.
Just on another note – what’s all this with your nomination? Fantastic! You deserve it, well done you.
x
hey Beth, glad you liked the cupcakes…so easy, i make them all the time!
the award is finalist in a blogging comp….exciting!
x
mmm… I just made banana bread yesterday! My recipe that I’ve been using for years is similar to yours except I use plain white sugar instead of brown, add a splash of vanilla and include baking soda as well which makes it rise a little bit more. I’ve never actually tried toasting it – I may have to give that a go – I think there is still a little bit left!
I am a lousy baker but this is too tempting. God, I so need a piece now…you are terrific you know. I am coming to the beach cottage, uninvited, shamelessly
I know this might sound a bit stupid but will a hald pound loaf pan do? Or is there a specific dimension you use for optimum results?
Loads of Love, Rukmini
yep that will be great! x
I’ve always loved banana bread – my gran had the best recipe. I made it often (before banana prices went ridiculous) and now that they are at a relatively normal price again I’ll be making more. Great for ankle biters lunch boxes!
Tip for free: the riper the banana the sweeter the bread. If you use older bananas then use the amount of sugar required in the recipe for that just sweet enough taste.
et voila ! done, i voted for you and…. i’m going to move to the kitchen now bcz (or thanks
?!) to you even so I have a big cold ! well i’ll take that as a medicine purpose 
i enjoy each time my visit on your blog, you make me laugh each time
a bientot !
Yummy! My husband cooks banana bread every Sunday night for the kids to take to school. Love your photos. I think our kitchens are opposite… Yours is so sunny!
Cheers Fiona
yum. I always make a Bill Granger one but I may well give this little beauty a whirl………
Thankyou
I’ve made that orange & almond cake that was mentioned above in a previous comment….. it is 100% worth it. I make it as a large flan and there is always enough to make some friands…… divine.
hope your headache is g.o.n.e.
Thanks for the recipe and hosting this every week!
I have a question, where can I find more about your photo techniques?
Camera, lighting or any tips? I remember you writing about it before but I can’t find it, (or am I mistaken?)
Thanks and have a Good Wednesday!
Maureen x
Oh, I see that I clicked my recent post away, sorry, it’s here
http://daydreamliving.blogspot.com/2011/11/coming-soon-linky-party-favourite-and.html
Hope you will join Sarah!
Maureen x
Hi Sarah-
Thanks for doing all that taste testing and leg work for us to deliver the *perfect banana bread recipe*!
As I said on FB- we usually do banana muffins so I can throw them in lunch boxes and I just checked my recipe- there is very little difference, though I think my mums {yep- this is a handed down from my mum when I was a little girl recipe!} is more cakey…
I am onto this girl- as an Aussie – I always have banana’s going *brown* in this kitchen for exactly this- and yes my Brits friends loved it!
Here’s my mums- all in one bowl like yours – and then bung into cupcake patties or bigger muffin tins.
Banana Muffins
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs lightly beaten
2 cups mashed banana
dash vanilla
2 cups SR flour
1 tsp bicarb
1/2 cup milk
let me know if you make some- so easy for taking to kids sporting events- which we both do alot of!
Off to try the bread now- will let you know!
melissa x
PS- there’s a great Aussie recipe book you should look out for by Roisin Bibby called *My Mum’s Cookbook”
We use it weekly here- a little old school and simple- Roisin is the mother of Deb Bibby the editor of *REAL LIVING* mag in Australia.
M x
Let me count the ways that I love banana bread! I am going to try this recipe- I always take banana bread along on Thanksgiving! (with chocolate chips, oopsy)
Thank you for hosting!
Kerry at HouseTalkN
I don’t know why my typing is so off today….I mean, not to join my blog but the upcoming linky party to show your favourite and best finds….sigh….excuse my third-not-so-cleverly-written-comment Sarah…bye now!
Maureen x
I’m pretty sure I was put on this earth to eat BANANA BREAD.
Gonna get bananas today so they can ripen….will make a couple loafs for Thanksgiving.
Come by for a chance at two awesome tea towels to go in your cottage by the sea.
xo bj
Well that looks easy enough. ❈ And I’m all about the easy! Think I’ll give it a shot for baking Friday…(I try to contain the baking for the people to just once a week, keeps my bathroom scale in check.) Off to vote… Have a great day! (Night?)
Hi Sarah,
This is my 2nd link up on here! Thank you so much for hosting this lovely link party. I’ve shared something a little special here…hope you enjoy.
Hugs,
Jessie
I add applesauce to mine to cut down on the butter…AND cinnamon!!!
ALSO….we can vote every two hours!!
hmmm cinnamon would be very nice yum
yes you can vote every two hours!!!
x
The cupcakes were such an success and now the Banana Bread is in the oven! <3
Making this for the second time this week.
It is THE best banana bread I have ever eaten and my kiddo’s love it!!
Must try your carrot cupcakes next, as Master 7 just tried someone elses carrot cake and has declared he also loves that.
Wow maybe my fussy eater is not so fussy after all.
Thanks Sarah!
I made your banana bread today and you really took me out of my comfort zone. I have never baked using “cup” measurements before, and I’ve been baking since I was knee high to a grasshopper!! But I had bought cup measures last summer which I had never used so I decided to give your recipe a go. I was concentrating so hard on the cups that I forgot to add baking powder. Just as I put the cake in the oven I thought “how is that going to rise, it was plain flour?” I ran and checked the receipe, realised my mistake and took the cake out of the oven immediately. I then set about rescuing the situation by stirring baking powder into the mixture already in the loaf tin. Yes both Mr Bean and Basil Faulty came to mind. But would you believe it turned out fine and my 6yo says its the best bread ever!!!
yay way to go Ellie! using cups was what made me able to bake, for me about a million times easier than weighing stuff out…I would never attempt a recipe if it’s not in cups…but then again I have become pretty good at adapting them now glad the banana bread went down well xo