Late Night Baking...

It happened… I decided to learn to bake cakes... I have to admit that I never had a particular spirit either a will for baking. And the first and the only attempt to bake a Brownie was a total failure. My Brownie had a rather runny consistency and we could easily sip it from the cup.... heheheheh 

In this way, I gave up all the baking attempts for years. However, since I’ve managed to bake some beautiful loaves of bread, I thought why would fail to bake some simple cakes... and succeeded!!! A few days ago, we enjoyed our scrumptious, homemade banana bread. The reason I chose this for my big baking return is that the recipe is so easy to make and obviously because of bananas.... who doesn’t like bananas? It's one of those fruits that you can do absolutely everything - from the cocktails and cold and warming desserts to cakes and muffins... And I even noticed that lots of my British friends enjoy their double toasts with slices of banana in the morning.... to one's heart content!!! 

As always before the great kitchen challenges I searched the Internet totally and I found this great recipe, the effects of which can be seen below. This bread is perfect for breakfast or unexpected Sunday visit of your friends... Literally super fast....

Banana Bread 

Makes 1 full-sized loaf or 2 small loaves 

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. 

In one bowl, combine: 

1/2 stick (4-5 tablespoons) butter, softened 

2 eggs 

2 or 3 very ripe bananas 

2/3 cup sugar 

Use a potato masher, fork, or spoon to squish the banana and mix the ingredients together. It is alright for there to be small (1 centimeter) chunks of banana in the batter, but you want most of the banana to be reduced to mush. 

In another bowl, combine: 

1 1/3 cup all-purpose unbleached flour 

3/4 teaspoon salt 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

1/4 teaspoon baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional) 

Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix until the ingredients are blended together. 

If you like, stir in additional ingredients here, such as chopped walnuts or pecans, dried cherries or apricots, or chocolate chips. A handful (about a half a cup) is about right. 

Pour the dough into greased baking pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Small loaves take around 30 minutes, a normal-sized loaf takes around 50 minutes. 

Remove from the oven. This bread is great warm, but it is excellent cold too. 

After they have cooled for 5 or 10 minutes the loaves can be removed from the pan to cool. Once they are cool they can be individually wrapped and frozen. 

Enjoy and have a lovely evening!