Baking Banana Bread

I was very saddened one day when the twins came home from school ravenous. I asked them what they'd eaten in school and they told me Milo and biscuits. My poor children had nothing to eat all morning apart from that. Because they leave for school so early, I don't give them breakfast. They have a hard enough time prying their eyes open and getting changed. I doubt their guts are up at that time. I bank on the fact that they have milk in the early morning and I send them off with tuck boxes filled with bread or cereal.

Most of the time, I buy the breads from various bakeries. Evan's favourite is the chocolate bread from Sun Moulin. I like it too but the health nut in me does not feel comfortable giving him chocolate bread every other morning. Jordan would be in heaven if I gave her tiny cocktail sausages every morning. But I've seen the Jaime Oliver TED video where he rants about the evils of processed food.

So, when I have time, I try to bake for them. I usually try to bake a big enough batch to freeze. And I usually try to involve them. The last time we baked banana bread, the twins had a great amount of fun helping. The only problem is having to make sure two children aren't toppling flour onto the flour.

This time, I worked with each twin individually. The tough thing about having twins (and a baby as well!) is spending individual time with each of them. But yesterday when I decided to bake, the opportunity presented itself. Jordan was still napping while Evan was up and wanting something to do. He was a great little helper and he loved all the mixing. In particular mixing the flour and transferring it into the banana mixture. I think he liked the cool texture of the flour. When Jordan came about, she helped me with the second batch and was very busy whisking the sugar and egg mixture.

It occurred to me that this was a wonderful recipe. Not so much because the banana cake was exceptional. It was yummy and divine when hot and had Nutella mixed into it but it was wonderful because it was an easy enough recipe that I could do with the children without being stressed. There wasn't the need for complicated equipment and the ingredients were generally safe for them to 'accidentally' put into their mouths barring the egg mixture.

Anyway, the ingredient list is as follows.

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large bananas)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup (120 ml) low-fat yogurt

1/4 cup (60 ml) canola or corn oil

3/4 cup (175 grams) light brown sugar ( I cut this to half a cup of brown sugar and I suspect it can actually be reduced further)

1 large egg or 2 large (60 grams) egg whites

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour

1/2 cup (60 grams) whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

And the instructions are quite straightforward too. All you need is a whisk, a couple of large bowls and some measuring cups.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place the rack in the center of the oven. Spray an 8 x 4 inch (20 x 10 cm) loaf pan with a nonstick vegetable cooking spray. ( I used a basting brush to oil the pan and both twins loved 'painting' with the brush)

Bowl Number 1.

Mix the mashed bananas with the baking soda and yogurt. Allow to sit while you prepare the rest of the batter. (Evan liked doing this because he got to eat the bananas and one of his Youtube Phonic videos has got the line "I got yogurt and bananas!")

Bowl Number 2

In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, egg, and vanilla.

Bowl Number 3

Whisk together the flours, baking powder, ground cinnamon and salt.

Then combine the banana mixture with the oil mixture and then add to the flour mixture. Stir just until all the ingredients are moistened. Pour into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for about 45 - 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

The twins found sprinkles, cranberries and Nutella in the fridge and proceeded to make variations of that. Both of them and Packrat liked the Nutella one best, especially when it was heated.The sprinkles ones, they just liked playing with. Me, I'm a purist. Just plain ol' banana bread for me.

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