Treats and things

We went to a lovely brunch on the weekend with our extended family. It was great to see our cousins again and get all our babies (the Great Grandchildren in the family) together.

It always amazes me the abundant deliciousness that a few people can pull together in a ‘pot luck’ situation. This brunch was just that, a feast of delicious food (it does help that my mum, aunty and cousins are all such great cooks – you can be guaranteed, that without even coordinating the food, when they’re bringing something the meal will be amazing!).

I made this Banana, Prune and Walnut loaf to take along. It was moist, sweet (but not too sweet), and the combination of prunes, bananas and walnuts worked so well together. The recipe was generous too, I had enough mixture for one large loaf and a mini loaf. I made the loaf gluten-free by replacing the self-rasing flour with 1 cup of Healtheries gluten-free baking mix and 3/4 teaspoon of baking powder.

If you want to bake something a bit different to the ordinary, I suggest you give this a try. Delicious as is, along side a cup of coffee, or warmed up with butter, or toasted and smothered in honey!

Banana, Prune and Walnut Loaf

250g pitted prunes, roughly chopped
1 tbsp golden syrup
150ml water
75g butter
75g caster sugar
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas, mashed
100g walnuts, chopped
150ml milk, semi skimmed
1 tsp ground all spice
175g self-raising flour (or to make gluten-free, follow description above)
10 walnut halves

Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC. Lightly grease and line the loaf tin.
Place the prunes, golden syrup and water into a saucepan and gently warm, mashing the prunes with the back of a fork, then cool.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and caster sugar until fluffy and pale, add the eggs beating well. Fold in the banana, milk, chopped walnuts, all spice and cooled prune mixture and combine well. Sift in the flour and gently fold all together.
Spoon into the prepared loaf tin, arrange the walnut halves on top and bake for approximately 50-55 minutes or until a skewer when inserted comes out clean.