Banana bread

Is your kitchen home to a few overripe bananas?

Do you like cake? (duh)

Do you claim baking is hard?

If the answer to at least two of these questions is yes than you should definitely make banana bread. It's simple, keeps for a few days (although so delicious it won't last that long, trust me), can be eaten for breakfast, dinner, lunch, you name it. I guess what I'm trying to say is give it a try!

I've tried a few recipes for banana bread but Sophie Dahl's wins every time (I just reduced the amount of sugar as a) bananas are quite sweet anyway and b) I was using chocolate). I was also inspired by Jen of Jen Loves Kev to add chocolate chips to the batter - score!

To make it you'll need:

75 g soft butter
4 ripe bananas (the riper the better, though of course they can't be black!)
150 g soft brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda or baking powder
1 tbsp vanilla extract
170g plain flour
a pinch of salt
a good handful of chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180 C/160 C fan. Mash bananas with a fork in a big bowl.

Add sugar, egg, vanilla extract and butter. Fold everything in with a spatula, until mixed thoroughly.

Add bicarbonate of soda, pinch of salt and flour, mix again and add chocolate chips.

Line a bread tin with baking parchment and pour the dough in.

Pop into the oven for 1hr, remove from the tin and cool. Eat with a bit of butter if you're feeling a bit naughty!