College Guys’ Banana & Walnut Bread – by Adam

{Hi everyone, I like to introduce you my dear friend, Adam, who came to visit me over the Christmas holiday coming all the way from Melbourne, Victoria.  He is a seasoned blogger and the one who got me into blogging.  Despite his love for food, he is not a food blogger. To get a taste of being a food blogger, here is his post – Emily}

OMG I’m in Orange.  For the last several weeks I have been couch surfing across mainland Australia.  After spending 4 weeks in Melbourne I have managed to make my way to Orange NSW.  Why Orange you ask?  WHY NOT.

The trip to Orange was more tiring than I had anticipated.  I had to take a flight from Melbourne to Sydney and then a 5 hour bus ride from Sydney to Orange.  Naturally I was jetlag, severely dehydrated, and obviously constipated.  But it was all worth it knowing that I was going to be fed by Emily.  I have known Emily for about 4 years now and during that time I have been introduced to several delicious dishes.  Her love of cooking and uncanny ability to season dishes with meat has inspired me to experiment with cooking.

On Christmas Eve, I was put in charge of cooking the twin chickens.  Yeah you buy chicken in “twin packs” here.  Naturally I just soaked the chicken in butter and herbs…. More butter than herbs obviously.  Baked it for an hour and fifteen minutes and voila!  It was delicious.  I tend to eat really healthy, but Christmas was a special occasion.  I’m surprised we didn’t drink butter that night.  The food hangover the day after was not something to be desired.

Today I had a massive craving for banana bread.  Yeah I’m a bit like a pregnant chick when it comes to food.  Anyway, when I found out that I had the ability to bake banana bread, I used the power to its fullest.  At one point, I was making banana bread all the time.  Needless to say my housemates were sick of it – Although we never ended up with leftovers.  I really love this recipe.   It’s simple to make and best of all it’s FAT FREE.

{Using the back of a spoon, crushed the walnuts in between the plastic bags.}

College Guys’ Banana Bread

(adapted from ninemsn.com)

Serves 8 (0r 3 with multiple helpings :P)

Ingredients

2 Bananas

2 Tablespoons of maple syrup or golden syrup

¾ Cups of white sugar

1 Egg

1 Cup of self-raising flour

¼ Cup of walnuts or any kind of nuts really, roughly crushed

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit) for convection oven) / 160 degrees Celsius  (320 degrees Fahrenheit) for fan-forced. Line baking pan with parchment paper and grease the sides without the parchment paper with vegetable oil.

2. Add peeled bananas, maple syrup, and sugar to a bowl and mash everything together with a spoon.

3. Mix in egg.  Use a hand mixer to mix everything well.

4.  Add flour and mix until batter is smooth.

5. Fold in nuts with a spoon.

6. Pour batter in pan and sprinkle on top with remaining nuts. Bake for 45 minutes or until the cake tester comes out clean.

{Enjoy!}