Banana Sultana Loaf

Trying my best to do more new recipes now that uni is not so demanding!  Here is one I did today.  I picked it out of one of my mum's old recipe books, because we had some manky looking (aka very ripe!) bananas to use up, and I didn't feel like making icing for a cake, or muffins, and we didn't have any oats to make my usual banana oatmeal muffins!

One problem I had with this recipe is that it was all in weight measurements, as opposed to cups and tablespoons/teaspoons and that was a bit of a pain.  Luckily we had scales :)

INGREDIENTS
90g butter
1 large egg
1/4 tsp baking soda
60g sultanas
125g sugar
220g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 ripe bananas

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 180 deg C
• Cream butter and sugar
• Add egg and mix well
• Add in sifted dry ingredients
• Add in mashed bananas and sultanas
• Pour into a greased (or silicone) loaf tin
• Bake for 50 mins
• Serve warm with butter

 This was a pretty easy recipe, aside from all the measurements!  Came out a bit dry, then realised it was in a part of the recipe book that said it was part of the 'buttered sweet' section haha so best to serve it with butter!!  It tastes great too! :)

Recipe Inspiration: Rally Cookbook

Feijoa Loaf

Feijoa is a fruit that is abundant particularly in Autumn, and is most common in New Zealand.  It's quite unusual, an acquired taste... acquired in so far as it helps having grown up with them.  Many people have feijoa trees in their gardens and our friend (she's British) doesn't like them, and so she gave us a bagful from the tree in her garden.  

This recipe inspiration came from a website which exclaimed it was the "easiest feijoa loaf ever".  I disagree.  Easy usually means quick, but the whole steps of boiling the feijoa and sugar and butter, then waiting for the mixture to cool down... what a pain in the butt!!! 

INGREDIENTS

1 cup feijoas (the fleshy bit, not the skin)
1 cup boiling water
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
50 g butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg, beaten

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 180 C
• Put feijoas, sugar, butter & water in a saucepan
• Bring to the boil, cook gently for 5 minutes
• Remove from heat and allow to cool
• Carefully stir in the dry ingredients & egg. Don’t overmix!
• Pour into loaf tin, and sprinkle over a mixture of raw sugar and cinnamon (about 2tbsp and 1/2 tsp) - this is optional
• Bake in a loaf tin for 50 minutes

This loaf was a slight fail in my opinion.  It came out quite dry, I think I may have overcooked it, cos I forgot the oven was on fan-bake, rather than normal bake.  The sugar and cinnamon on top gave it a nice crunch though, and I think this was my favourite part of it.  

Recipe Inspiration: http://www.mividacontigo.com/food/the-easiest-feijoa-loaf-ever