Don’t throw those old bananas away – turn them into Banana Bread!

This banana bread recipe is quick, simple – and delicious.

Or, to put it another way… This banana bread recipe is so quick that I can make it in between looking after Thrifty Baby; so simple that I can get it right despite the sleep deprivation, and so delicious that we polished this latest batch off before it had cooled. (I remembered to take this photograph just in time…)

I also like this recipe because I hate food waste, and this a great way to use up old bananas. You know: the two or three bananas that aren’t good enough to go into a lunchbox or handbag anymore, and are sitting around going brown and soft.

Like a lot of my favourite recipes, it’s a Nigella recipe that I have adapted, partly to bring the cost down and partly for personal preference. In the original recipe the bananas are mashed, but I prefer to chop them into small chunks. That way, when cooked they are all soft and gooey. Yum.

Traditionally, one makes banana bread in a small loaf tin. Our loaf tin went out with the recycling after I noticed that it was going rusty, and I haven’t gotten round to replacing it yet. So this time I made up the banana bread mixture and dolloped it into a muffin tray instead.

Banana Bread Recipe

4. Bake at 170ºC/gas mark 3 for one hour. Test with a skewer: when it is done, the skewer should come out “cleanish”.

At this point you are supposed to turn it out onto a wire tray and leave it to cool, but I prefer to gobble the banana bread down while it’s still piping hot. This recipe produces light, fluffy banana bread – that is also incredibly moreish.