One thing I hear people say a lot is that they don't like over-ripe bananas and in the same sentence tell me how much they love my banana bread! The bananas I use in my recipe are so over-ripe it reminds me of trying to sneak vegetables into a childs meal! My clever trick is to peel those spotty bananas which some people would throw out and freeze them in freezer bags for up to 3 months. Then I defrost them when I want to make banana bread.

I follow a gluten free diet so decided to make this so that for once I could actually eat something I bake! Gluten Free doesn't necessarly mean "healthy" as this recipe has the exact same amount of sugar as the original recipe. I have just changed up the flour and added some milk because generally gluten free cake batters tend to be a bit drier. And I've added some natural almonds too. You could always add some chocolate chips or soaked dried fruit to the batter. If you want to make the regular batter use 280g of Plain flour (200g GF Flour & 80g Cornflour) and omit the milk.

Ingredients:

150g Butter

250g Brown Sugar

200g Bananas, mashed (About 3)

2 Eggs

200g Plain Gluten Free Flour

80g Corn Flour

1 teasp Baking Powder

1 teasp Bi-carb Soda

1 teasp Cinnamon

70ml Milk

100g Chopped Natural Almonds

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Line a loaf tin with baking paper. Set aside. I used 2 smaller loaf tins.

Cream the butter and sugar together for 6 minutes or until light and fluffy.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.

Add the mashed bananas and beat into the creamed sugar mixture.

Add the eggs and mix well.

Scrape down the edges of the mixing bowl and sift in the dry ingredients. Mix gently until well combined.

Gently fold in the chopped almonds and milk.

Pour into the loaf tin.

Bake 50-60 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. My smaller loaves took 35 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes.

Very carefully remove the bread from the tin and continue to cool on a wire rack.

I then sliced mine and wrapped 2 pieces per serving in cling film and stored them in the freezer when I will defrost and toast and perhaps serve with peanut butter! Yum!