Banana Bread

I love banana bread and the boy has never had it before, since it normally comes with a very large amount of nuts baked in. It's been on my to-do list for ages. I was recently watching Masterchef Australia, and saw Matt Preston making what he called a "cheat's banana bread" - it looked perfect!

So here's his banana bread recipe, for all you poor souls that don't watch Masterchef AU. :D

I'm a big fan of this one because it's sweet but not overly so, and it stays nice and moist even after an hour of cooking. The sugar and bananas give it a nice crisp crust too.

Step 1: Ingredients:

• 3 very ripe bananas - the blacker, the better!
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 125 g butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt

You can also add sweet spices to this - cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, whatever! Nuts are another great addition - 1/2 cup of walnuts or pecans would be amazing.

Step 2: Cream the Butter and Sugar

Cream the butter and sugar together until it's well combined and has turned a light yellow color.

Step 3: Add the Eggs and Bananas

Crack the eggs into the butter and sugar and then add the three bananas. Mine weren't super soft, so I cut them into slices to speed up the process.

Mix this until the bananas have broken down quite a bit. I like to leave some chunks in, but it's best for the next step if it's mostly smooth.

Step 4: Mix in the Flour

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt. 

Use a spatula or wooden spoon (no more hand mixer!) to mix the flour into the batter. Keep going until there are no dry spots left.

Step 5: Bake!

Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake at 180 C/350 F for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Pop it out of the pan and let it cool on a wire rack until it's only slightly warm to the touch - if you cut it when it's super hot it will fall apart.