Flop

[whirligigwitch]

That would be the centre of my banana muffins. Following a recipe from Nigella Lawson's How To Be a Domestic Goddess I've discovered that it's singularly unsuccessful.

Ingredients: butter, honey, vanilla extract, bananas, plain flour, bicarb, baking powder, cinnamon, salt. Result = overcooked on the outside, sunken in the middle soggy heaps of greyish-brown banana gloop.

In their defence, the taste is nice, the texture, however, is revolting. Not a recipe I'll try again.

I thought at the time that there wasn't sufficient flour and fat but as I had three very overripe bananas I thought they were worth a go and muffins are easier to take to work and dish out than slices of banana loaf. Mistake. Delia Smith's banana bread is much better.

There are some breakfast bars, also from a Nigella recipe, in the oven - they should be more successful though as I've made them several times before.

Now should I go and quickly dash up a few cheese scones? I had all the ingredients out but then Amelia decided she'd had enough of my preoccupation with the oven and wanted a cuddle and a feed.

Comments

Banana Bread

[gloriap.livejournal.com]

This one never fails me:

Banana Bread – James Beard

2 c. sifted flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp, salt
1/2 c. butter
1 c. granulated sugar
(table sugar)
2 eggs
1 c. mashed very ripe banana
1/3 c. milk
1 tsp. lemon juice or vinegar
1/2 c. chopped nuts (optional)
Sift flour with soda and salt. Cream butter and gradually add sugar. Mix well. Add eggs and bananas, mix well. Combine milk and lemon juice which will curdle. Slowly and alternately add flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with flour. Blend well after each addition. Stir in nuts. Pour into lavishly buttered 9x5 inch loaf pan and bake in 350deg. Oven for 1 hour or till bread springs back when lightly touched in the center.

This is also good with a handful of chocolate chips or chopped chocolate added to the batter but not as healthy, I guess. ;-)

[mandalj.livejournal.com]

It's very timely that I'm reading this now, after failing to make scones this morning. What's your trick to getting them to rise? Mine were nice on the top but flat and gluggy inside.

[whirligigwitch.livejournal.com]

My recipe:
225g self-raising white flour
pinch salt
1 tsp baking powder
40g butter/margarine
about 150ml buttermilk or natural yoghurt or milk
beaten egg, to glaze

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Rub the butter/margarine in until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in enough of the liquid to make a soft, light dough. On a lighly floured surface roll out the dough to a 2cm thickness and cut into rounds. Place on a greased baking tray and brush the tops of the scones with the eggwash. Bake at Gas 7/220C/425F for about 10 minutes until well risen and golden. Cool on a wire rack.

I find they rise best with natural yoghurt or buttermilk, I think it's the acidity and you get a nice soft texture, too. I usually add a chunk of grated cheese, about 50g to the dry ingredients before the liquid and sprinkle grated cheese on top before baking.

[mandalj.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for that. My recipe had only 3 ingredients (self-raising flour, lemonade and cream), but while it took less time, it's not worth the trouble if it doesn't work!