Julie's Recipe Corner

BANANA WALNUT & HONEY TEABREAD

Ingredients:
225g self-raising flour
¼ level teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
100g butter
225g bananas
75g chopped walnuts
100g caster sugar
Grated rind of 1 lemon
2 large eggs
6 tablespoons thick pale honey

Preheat the oven to 160C/fan 140C/Gas 3. Lightly grease a 900g/2lb loaf tin then line the base with baking parchment.

Measure the flour and nutmeg into a large bowl and rub in the butter using your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Peel and mash the bananas and stir into the flour mixture, along with the sugar, walnuts, lemon rind, eggs and honey. Beat well until evenly mixed, then turn into the prepared tin and level the surface.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 1 ¼ hours or until a fine skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cover the teabread loosely with foil during the end of the cooking time if it is browning too much. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes then turn out, peel off the parchment and finish cooling on a wire rack.

FAST FLAPJACKS

These flapjacks are crunch and traditional. Take care not to overbake as they become hard and dark.

Ingredients:
225g butter
225g Demerara sugar
75g golden syrup
275g porridge oats

Preheat oven to 160C, Fan 140C, gas 3. Grease 12”x9” (30x23cm) traybake or roasting tin.

Melt butter in large pan along with sugar and syrup, then stir in the oats. Mix well then turn into prepared tin and press flat with palette knife or back of a spoon.

Bake for about 35 mins, or until pale golden brown. Remove from oven and leave to cool for 10 mins. Mark into squares and leave to finish cooling in tin.

To make Chocolate Chip/Fudge Flapjacks. Leave the mixture to cool, after stirring in the oats. Then stir in 50g plain chocolate chips and 50g of Fudge Chunks (from Waitrose – Cook’s ingredients – A Handful of Fudge Chunks), then turn into tin and follow recipe as above.

To make Muesli Flapjacks, replace 175g of the oats with muesli, or assorted seeds and follow recipe as above.