Banana, Pear and Coconut Loaf – a reason to kiss your Greengrocer !

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My favourite Greengrocer has obviously been paying attention to my War on Waste theme. “Do you want these love, they are gone beyond the beyond.” he said, handing over several kilos of freckly bananas, and a half-dozen Rocha pears that have seen better days.  “On the house”, he adds. “I can’t sell them and it’s a shame to chuck ‘em if you can use ‘em.”  Normally I have to wait a week until my newly purchased bananas overripen sufficiently for baking. These are perfect. Oh I could kiss him.

Through a combination of a shortage of time, a lack of butter, this unexpected excess of pears and bananas, and a craving for something sweet, I have messed with my old Banana Bread recipe. Here is the new quick and easy version. WOW! The coconut adds texture and a background creaminess. The pear makes the banana flavour POP. And the bonus is that it is quicker to put together and involves less washing up. What’s not to love!

For the absolutely best results hold your nerve until the bananas are practically black on the outside and the flesh is sweet, sweet, sweet.

Not quite the pick of the bunch but these freckly bananas are just perfect for baking

For a 2Lb loaf you will need:

... to pre-heat the oven to 160°C

250g very ripe bananas, mashed (that’s about 3 medium bananas)

100g sunflower oil (or other flavourless cooking oil)

100g caster sugar

2 eggs, beaten

250g plain flour

50g dessicated shredded coconut (unsweetened)

10g baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 soft sweet ripe pear, such as Rocha, chopped into small pieces 

a little butter to grease the loaf tin 

1                    First, lightly butter and base line a 2 lb loaf tin. (To base line a tin, sit it on greaseproof paper or baking parchment and using a pencil, trace around it. Cut out the shape just inside the pencil lines. Lightly rub the inside of the tin with butter and position the paper in the buttery base. This makes it easier to remove the cake from the tin when cooked.)

2                    In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas roughly using a fork or a potato masher. Add the oil and caster sugar and stir together until just combined. Next add the beaten eggs, again stirring until just combined.

3                    In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, coconut, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt and fold these dry ingredients into the egg mixture until just incorporated and no dry mix remains. (To fold, add dry ingredients to wet and taking a spatula or a metal spoon, cut through the centre of the batter. Move the spatula or spoon across the bottom of the bowl, and back up the side and across the top bringing some of the cake mixture from bottom to top. Give the bowl a quarter turn and repeat. Keep folding the mixture and turning the bowl until the dry ingredients are incorporated into the batter. Folding avoids overworking the batter, giving a tender crumb in the finished loaf.) Finally, mix in the chopped pear, making sure it is well-distributed throughout the mixture.

4                    Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf tin and place in the preheated oven. Bake for about 50 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. A cocktail stick inserted in the centre should come out clean. If there is batter clinging to it, pop the loaf back in the oven for a further 10 minutes then test again. Leave to cool in the tin. While you can eat it straight away, this cake is best wrapped in cling film and left for 24 hours before eating. A wonderful alchemy takes place and it becomes more banana-y, pear-y and utterly delicious.  

Evidence that it is time to cut another slice...

Note: I scattered about 50g of fruit-free muesli over the top of the loaf before baking to make it more presentable because it’s a homely looking loaf. Pin It

Banana Peanut Butter Muffins have the WOW* factor

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So much of cooking is by accident rather than design. I’m sure I’m not the only cook who hides her mistakes under the nearest tea-towel and celebrates the successes as if they were intended. These successes are a good example of serendipity... (I love that word).

Serendipitous muffins... the best sort!

I had intended porridge for breakfast this morning, but when I entered the kitchen, I was faced with three sad freckled bananas with a ‘pre-compost bin’ look about them. Enter the WOW factor.

My youngest sister is waging *War On Waste. I call it the WOW factor: if she allows a foodstuff to go bad then she cannot buy it for two weeks. To use up the sad bananas, I was inspired to make Banana Peanut Butter Muffins for breakfast instead. Here’s how that inspiration went:

7.30am – After measuring out most of the ingredients, I discover a major butter shortage – nowhere near enough for this recipe. Damn! Must have banana peanut butter muffins...

7.31am - I discover a packet of creamed coconut, with a use-by date of right about now (more WOW factor). It worked perfectly in place of the butter I normally use and filled the kitchen with a heavenly smell – actually pretty similar to the ah-mazing Coconut Melt Massage my holistic therapist sister does.

The result was a light fluffy flavourful muffin and I had just enough butter to make a silky peanut butter icing.

For 18 sinful muffins you will need...

... to pre-heat your oven to 160°C

200g creamed coconut, grated (or softened butter if you prefer)

100g crunchy peanut butter

250g very ripe bananas (that’s about 3 small bananas)

2 eggs

80mls fresh milk

150g plain flour

50g oatmeal flakes

25g Bourneville cocoa powder, sifted

100g caster sugar

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

½ teaspoon salt

50g banana chips (optional)

1          In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the creamed coconut, peanut butter and bananas until they form a smooth mixture. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating between additions until well combined. Now, add the milk and beat until combined.

2          Measure the rest of the ingredients - except the banana chips – into a separate bowl.

3          Add the coconut mixture to the flour mixture, stirring with a spatula or wooden spoon just until no dry mixture remains. Finally, stir in the banana chips if using.

4          Using an ice cream scoop or dessert spoon, divide the mixture between 18 lined muffin tins, filling them no more than three-quarters full.

5          Bake for 18 minutes until well risen and cooked through – a toothpick inserted in the centre should come out clean. If any mixture adheres, bake for a further 5 minutes and test again.

6          When cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

They are really good just as they are, with hints of underlying chocolate and coconut flavours beneath the brazen banana peanut exterior. I like to push to boat out by adding a Peanut Butter Frosting. The following quantities make enough frosting to swirl over 6 – 8 muffins – I put the rest into the freezer out of temptation’s way.

For the peanut butter icing you will need...

80g butter, softened

80g crunchy peanut butter (you could use smooth peanut butter if you want completely smooth frosting)

160g icing sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons fresh milk

1          In a medium bowl beat the softened butter together with the peanut butter until combined. Then add the icing sugar and mix until combined. An electric mixer is best for this job but go easy when adding the icing sugar unless you want a lovely sweet cloud filling your kitchen.

Potential sugar cloud...

2          Add the vanilla extract and milk and continue mixing until you have a smooth icing.

3          Swirl a generous portion of icing onto each cooled muffin.

Naughty breakfast is served... WOW!

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Banana and Coconut Loaf – the silver lining in the brown paper bag

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Elena and Ivan from Melbourne commented a couple of posts back (Cherry Clafoutis) that they had bought cherries from one of the ‘pram ladies’ in Dublin. That simple remark brought back some memories for me. There’s not so many of them around now, but when I was a little girl shopping in Dublin with my mother, these pram ladies were like a mobile department store.

Overripe bananas - perfect in so many ways! 

They wheeled their goods around the city centre like a flock of latter-day Molly Malones. They were to be found in great numbers in and around Henry Street, Moore Street and Mary Street and the sing-song cry of the flock went something like “apples’n’oranges-foive-fur-fiv-deee... twentypee-de-bah-nah-nahhhhhs”. As you approached, they’d drop their voices, cast their eyes left and right and ask somewhat shiftily, “D’ya want bananas/flowers/bangles/wrappin’ paper/fireworks/whatever you’re havin’ yourself, love?” as if offering contraband. And in some cases, perhaps they were. You could always tell if there were police in the area and in what direction by a sudden tsunami of enormous black prams rushing away from them.

One thing was pretty certain though. If you were buying fruit, no matter how carefully you watched the vendor select it, sometimes some less-than-perfect specimens would sneak their way into your brown paper bag to be discovered only when you were on the bus, miles away. Then you were stuck with your wormy apples, rotten peaches, or over-ripe bananas.

Wormy apples and rotten peaches are no good to anyone. Over-ripe bananas offer a silver lining because they are perfect for making Banana and Coconut Loaf.

For 1 loaf you will need:

... to pre-heat the oven to 180°C

100g butter

100g caster sugar

2 eggs, beaten

4 ripe bananas, mashed

250g self-raising flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

50g coconut

Topping (optional)

50g chopped nuts

About 2 tablespoons runny honey

1          First, lightly butter and base line a 2 lb loaf tin. To base line a tin, sit it on greaseproof paper or baking parchment and using a pencil, trace around it. Cut out the shape just inside the pencil lines. Lightly rub the inside of the tin with butter and position the paper in the buttery base. This makes it easier to remove the cake from the tin when cooked.

2          Now, whisk together the butter and sugar until paler in colour and fluffy. Then add the eggs a little at a time, beating well between additions. Add the mashed bananas to the egg mixture and beat until just combined.

3          Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and coconut and fold these dry ingredients into the egg mixture until just incorporated. To fold, take a spatula or a metal spoon and cut through the centre of the batter. Move the spatula or spoon across the bottom of the bowl, and back up the side and across the top bringing some of the cake mixture from bottom to top. Give the bowl a quarter turn and repeat. Keep folding the mixture and turning the bowl until the dry ingredients are incorporated into the batter.

4          Transfer to the prepared loaf tin.

5          The optional topping: If you want to gild this rather homely lily, sprinkle your choice of chopped nuts down the centre of the cake and drizzle about 2 tablespoons of runny honey over them.

6          Transfer to the preheated oven and bake for about 50 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. A cocktail stick inserted in the centre should come out clean. If there is batter clinging to it, pop the loaf back in the oven for a further 10 minutes then test again. Leave to cool in the tin. While you can eat it straight away, this cake is best wrapped in clingfilm and left for 24 hours before eating. A wonderful alchemy takes place and it becomes more banana-y and moist and utterly delicious.

Variation

If you cannot like coconut, replace it with chopped walnuts, or a handful of raisins.

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