Made With ♥ Monday: Banana Bread

I firmly believe Sophie Dahl is a witch. A good witch, of course, the kind that leaves steaming hot dishes outside the homes of little children who've been good and curious about the world. Her life itself sounds like some kind of magic: she's a former model, writer, chef, author of the fabulous cookbook Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights, and she just so happens to be Roald Dahl's granddaughter. Like I said, magic.

Whenever I'm in need of some direction in my life or a moment of serious cheering up, I turn to Miss Dahl's wit, wisdom, and best loved banana bread.

Sophie Dahl's Banana Bread

This recipe is one of those deliciously simple ones that you just know is going to turn out. Basically you take all your ingredients, mix them together, pop it in the oven and wait about an hour. There you go: Steaming hot, straight from the oven, crispy-but-chewy and oh so delicious with a dollop of butter. Not to mention the intoxicating smell that's specially designed to ward off the November blues.

Ingredients:

5 1/2 tablespoons butter, soft but not melted
4 ripe bananas (give these a good mash)
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1 handful chocolate chips (if you've got a particularly sweet tooth)

Like I said, step one is just to mix everything together. Save the baking soda, salt and flour for last. I'd recommend a sturdy wooden spoon - or just find three friends with heaps of exam stress to work out, arm them with forks and stand back (I think someone almost lost an eye. Which, to be honest, isn't exactly the kind of secret ingredient I'm interested in, thank you very much).

After all that is said and done, bake at 350F for a good hour if using a loaf pan. We made ours into a banana cake in an 9x11 (or something like that) pan and it only took around 45 minutes. Good to keep an eye on, but also one of those recipes where you can really just sit back and wait. When the smell starts to get especially delicious, it's probably ready. Poke with a fork to test.

Before:

And after:

Oh, the glorious invention of the oven. Not to say that the batter isn't pretty good on it's own. This is definitely a recipe meant for licking the spoon. Nothing like a hot oven to keep you safe against the November winds. Happy baking.