grown up banana bread
rating:
this is a "grown up" banana bread, and it's absolutely gorgeous. Highly recommended.
100g sultanas
75ml bourbon or rum
175g plain flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
125g unsalted butter, melted
150g sugar (I use golden granulated for this)
2 large eggs
300g of very ripe bananas, weight without skins, mashed
60g chopped walnuts
23 x 13 x 7 cm tin, buttered and floured, or with a paper insert (I use the latter - life is too short for sticking cakes!)
place sultanas and alcohol in a small pan, bring to the boil and remove from heat. Leave for an hour, or until most of the alcohol has been absorbed.
preheat oven to 170/gas 3.
put flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt into a medium bowl, and combine well with a wooden spoon. In another (large) bowl, mix the melted butter and sugar, beat until blended. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the mashed bananas.
then, with your wooden spoon, stir in the walnut, drained sultanas and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture a third at a time, stirring well after each bit. Scrape into the loaf tin and bake for about an hour to 1 1/4 hours. It's cooked when a skewer comes out fairly clean. Cool it in the tin
