Banananana Bread

Makes a 9 by 5 by 3 Loaf

½ cup Butter *room temperature
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 pieces Egg
1 1/2 cup Soft Pastry Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1 Cup Banana (3 medium sized) mashed
½ cup Full Fat Yogurt
1 tsp Vanilla
½ cup Walnuts
¼ cup Flax Seeds
Post Script: If your allergic to nuts and flax seeds are a little intimadating they can both be omitted and it won't effect the texture or final result.

Lemon & Coconut Crumble Topping
4 tbsp Butter *melted
4 tbsp Granulated Sugar
1 tbsp Soft Cake Flour
½ tsp Lemon Zest
½ tsp Coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees while you’re getting everything mixed together. It’s best to start making the Crumble before the bread batter because the quicker the loaf goes from batter to oven the better rise you will get. The crumbly topping is simply adding mixing the flour & sugar & flavorings together and added warm butter to the mixture. Work with hands till it starts to form little clusters about the size of peas. Rest in fridge to ‘set’.

2. Over a medium heat, throw your walnuts on for toasting. Walnuts burn easily so keep a careful eye and Flaxseed is just as temperamental so when you think you’ve got a minute or so left on your walnuts throw in your flaxseed.

3. Now you can finally get mashing. Let your bananas go so white it’s hard to tell they were ever yellow. A trick to quicken this process is to put your bananas in the fridge the night prior. In one bowl combine your cup of banana with yogurt and vanilla extract.

4. Next sieve your Flour with the baking soda and salt. And in a separate bowl cream together the butter and sugar. A mixer works best to achieve uber-creamy-ness but you can achieve similar results doing it by hand. After they look like they were never apart add in your two eggs, one piece at a time. Followed by your dry ingredients. Lastly bring together the banana mixture and fold in the nuts. Pour into sprayed/lined loaf and sprinkle crumble atop.
Proceed to oven and your Banana Bread should be ready in 1 hour 10 minutes.

Since your dishes are done and you’ve still got an hour to wait out on some tasty bread you could get started on a spread. This time around I made a Walnut spread by throwing 2 cups of Walnuts into by Magic Bullet till they formed a thick texture resembling sand. Then add 4 tablespoons of either Coconut Milk or fresh Orange juice and return the paste to the food processor. Once it’s blended till it runs smooth pour it into a jar, add 2 tbsp honey and a pinch of salt. Stir and spread.

On a sadder note, my magic bullet took it's last spin tonight. I think the Walnut Butter may have put it over the edge but I have very fond memories. 2 minute pancakes, starwberry smoothies, coffee grinding... You'll be missed