can't be stuffed banana bread

This has to be the easiest, and I mean really, really easy, easiest baked good I have ever made. Seriously the hardest bit is peeling the bananas (which I guess can be almost tricky if they are frozen or very black). I do believe Grace could make this recipe pretty much by herself if she was keen, except she told me she doesn't like it because it has too much banana in it. Everyone else has said it is very nice. This bread also keeps very well in the fridge (and would freeze well), so I tend to double the quantity and make two loaves. Perfect for using up very ripe bananas. It is quite sweet, so I reduced the sugar quite a bit from the original recipe and I think you could reduce the sugar even more depending on how sweet the bananas are.

Last time I made this, I included some vanilla, some fresh nutmeg, some cinnamon, sultanas and a few leftover walnuts we had floating around the cupboard. The time before I put the scant remains of a packet of chocolate chips in. Sultanas are always good. But the optional extras are entirely optional, the bread still tastes lovely without them.

Ingredients

1x

2 bananas
2 tablespoons of golden syrup
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup self raising flour (I use wholemeal)
pinch salt

2x
4 bananas
tablespoons of golden syrup
1 cup of brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups of self raising flour
pinch salt

possible optional extras

vanilla extract
nutmeg - best cut from a whole nutmeg with a sharp knife - a whole different taste experience
cinnamon
orange zest
chocolate chips
sultanas
chopped walnuts

To make

• Line two small loaves with baking paper or grease well. Preheat oven to 180C.
• Using a good size mixing bowl, mash the bananas.
• Add golden syrup and sugar. Stir. Add egg, flour and pinch of salt. Mix well. Add in any optional extras. Mix well.
• Pour into loaf pans and bake for about 30 minutes or until skewer tests clean.
• Rest in tin before turning onto a rack to cool. Store in fridge wrapped in the baking paper and a plastic bag or tea towel.

How easy was that! The perfect snack as it is or with a touch of butter.

ps - it is called "can't be stuffed banana bread" because the weekend I first made it, G was suggesting (quite strongly) that I make something with the rotting bananas we had. They were so awful I thought it wouldn't work so I used the most basic recipe I could find. Because I really couldn't be stuffed. And lo it was good. A few adaptions and changes, and there we have it.

golden syrup dumplings

I adore these. They remind me of my childhood in the best possible way. We also made them at the cafe during winter and they were a bit of a hit; some people coming in especially on the days they were on. Which I think is a bit odd, because they are super easy to make and really best freshly cooked (although I do like them cold for breakfast, another childhood memory). G on the other hand, thinks they are horrid and a perfect illustration of bad anglo/australian cooking. Maybe it's the lemon. For me they have to be lemony.

It's really a boiled scone recipe and like with scones, it's important not to overhandle them. Quick and light is the way to do it.

Ingredients

For the dumplings
I cup white self-raising flour
pinch of salt
about 50 g butter
about 1/4 cup of half milk, half water

For the syrup
1/2 a cup of sugar
3/4 cup of golden syrup
juice of one reasonable sized lemon
2 cups of water

To make the dumplings

1. Chop the butter into small pieces and rub into flour and salt, lifting to aerate. Don't worry if tt's not compltely even.
2. Make a well in the centre of the mix and add in the milk/water mixing with a knife as you go, until you have a medium consistency scone like dough.
3. Knead very lightly and briefly in the bowl. Just enough to make the mixture cohere.
4. Roll into balls the size of a twenty cent piece (but round). The balls need to be reasonably smooth and well stuck together. Sit on a plate while you make the syrup.

To cook and serve

1. Bring the syrup ingredients to a slow boil in a medium size saucepan.
2. Drop balls into boiling syrup one at a time. They will puff up and double in size quite quickly.
3. Don't overcrowd them, I usually cook the dumplings in two batches, adding a little extra water to the second batch.
4. Move gently with a spoon to make sure they don't stick together.
5. Cook for three to four minutes or until they are done in the middle.
6. If you are not serving them straight away, store the dumplings on a tray and the remaining syrup in a separate container. They reheat pretty well in the microwave.
7. Serve 2 or 3 per person with a little extra syrup, warm and with cream or icecream. I like either and it's hard to pick which one, but unlike some in my family, I think cream and icecream together is an abomination. I tend to go with the icecream here. Hot, cold. Very sweet.

Muesli Slice

While I was on holidays, during Grace's nap, I sometimes felt like baking. Nice, well equiped kitchen looking over the treetops, an electric fan forced oven (unlike the antique caravan sized oven with unreliable temperature control we have at home in the pokey kitchen) and nothing much else to do might have had something to do with it. As would have the appetitie sharpened by the sea air and the general holiday disregard for any concept of dieting. Which leads me to the next point, I don't think this could be classified as a heathy food although it does contain some healthy ingredients. Made all the tastier with ample amounts of sugar and butter.

The recipe is roughly based on a recipe for Anzac biscuits I found in an old Women's Weekly cookbook. With the addition of muesli, an egg and a little more water. I've made this slice with golden syrup, honey and molasses and they're all good. Any brand of untoasted muesli with the bran turds in it will do, although personally I prefer one without the cursed dried paw-paw found in so many modern mueslis. Apricots are good though. Don't press it into the tin too hard and don't add too much water. As both seem to affect the texture. Although each time I've made it, it's been very edible. Indeed, I think we might be making this quite alot.

You need

• 3 cups of untoasted muesli
• 1 cup dessicated coconut
• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• a dash of cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons of golden syrup, honey or molasses
• 100 g butter
• 1-3 tablespoons of water
• 1 teaspoon of bicarb soda
• 1 egg
• 1 lemon
• icing sugar

To Make

• Mix muesli, brown sugar, coconut, self-raising flour and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.
• Melt the butter and the syrup together. Either in the microwave or in a saucepan on the stove.
• Mix bi-carb soda with one tablespoon of water and add to warm butter and sugar. It will froth up quite a lot.
• Add the frothy mix to the dry ingredients and stir well.
• Beat the egg with just a little water and mix in well.
• Stir. The mix should be fairly stiff but add a little more water if everything won't combine.
• Spread in tin lined with baking paper or greased. It needs to be fairly thin, say about two centimetres, but don't pack it as the mix will spread. A few gaps are fine.
• Bake at 180C (a little less if fan forced) until a bit puffy and golden brown.

To Ice

Squeeze a lemon. Add enough icing sugar to make a thin icing. It will seem like it isn't enough, but it is. Spread very thinly over the slice. When the icing has set hard, cut into squares. This is where the baking paper comes into it's own because then it can just be lifted onto a chopping board and cut with a big knife.This slice is a whole lot nicer than the ingredients would suggest.

Anzacs

My ideal Anzac biscuit is thin and crisp. They look healthy and do contain oats, but really there is too much butter and sugar in these for them to be good for you. I've tried making them with less butter and sugar but then they're not Anzacs. A slow oven and careful cooking is the key to success with these. It's difficult to get a uniform result in our oven. Luckily G likes them a bit soft and I like them super crisp.

You will need

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup plain flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup dessicated coconut
125g butter
3 tablespoons of golden syrup
1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
1 tablespoon hot water

To make

• Preheat oven to 150C.
• Combine oats, flour, sugar and coconut in a mixing bowl. 
• Combine butter and golden syrup in a medium sized saucepan and melt on a gentle heat, taking care not to burn. 
• Mix soda with water and add to butter/golden syrup mixture. It will foam up. 
• Add the foam to the dry ingredients and mix well. The mix should be just wet enough to hold together.
• Drop soup spoon fulls onto biscuit trays lined with baking paper or lightly greased.
• Bake in a slow oven until they puff up and fall down again, about 15 minutes. Rotate to avoid burning.
• Allow to cool on trays before moving.

Chocolate weetbix slice

I remember this slice from my childhood. My mum never made it, but some of her country cousins did. It is very crunchy and contains weetbix, which as a cereal with milk, makes me gag, but as a slice ingredient is quite tasty. I found the recipe in my nans old recipe book. It's very easy.

You will need

1 cup SR flour
1 cup dessicatedcoconut
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup crushed weetbix
120 g butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup
3 tablespoons cocoa
icing sugar, cocoa & coconut to ice

To make

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line a slice tin with baking paper.



2. Mix dry ingredients together.



3. Melt butter and golden syrup together.



4. Mix wet and dry ingredients together. It will be a bit crumbly. Combine with hands if neccessary.



5. Press into a slice tin and bake in a moderate oven for 30 minutes.



6. Make a thin chocolate icing and spread over slice. Sprinkle with coconut.



7. Set in fridge. Remove from tin and cut into squares.