One slightly scorched Orange, Banana and Cranberry Loaf. I've not baked for weeks and though I had to literally force myself to do it, the end result was worth it. It's so difficult to shake off the Glums at the moment. Here's the recipe, from Emma Patmore's Baking:
175g/6 oz/1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
150g/5 1/2 oz/1 cup soft brown sugar
2 bananas, mashed
50g/1 3/4 oz chopped mixed peel
25g/1 oz chopped mixed nuts ( left them out)
50g/1 3/4 dried cranberries (I only had mixed fruit with cranberries in)
5 - 6 tablespoons orange juice (I used up an old orange for this)
2 eggs, beaten
150ml/quarter of a pint/ 2/3 cup sunflower oil
75g/2 3/4 oz icing (confectioners')sugar, sieved (I didn't bother with the icing)
grated rind of one orange (I added this to the mix instead)
Grease a 900g/2 lb loaf tin and line the base with baking parchment. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Stir in the sugar, bananas, chopped mixed peel, nuts and cranberries. Stir the orange juice, eggs and oil together until well combined., Add the mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in a preheated oven - 180deg. C/350deg. F/Gas Mark 4 for about 1 hour until firm to the touch or until a fine skewer inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean. Turn out the loaf and leave it to cool on a wire rack.
Mix the icing sugar with a little water and drizzle over the loaf. Sprinkle the orange rind over the top, and leave to set before serving.
I was planning a morning out yesterday, but had to wait until the Care and Repair chap had come to fit a rail in the bathroom for Keith. I had suffered a very bad night's sleep too - still awake at 1 a.m. and felt fit for nothing, so I didn't go any further than town just to get a paper and then tried to have a nap on the sofa, but of course, I had kittens either burrowing under the blanket (Lulu) or landing on me from a height (Pippi) so it ended up just being half an hours' "shut eye" and NO sleep. By the end of the afternoon I had rallied enough to make home-made Pizza for tea.
Anyway, I sat quietly in the evening and planned a little trip out today to the Garden Centre for various veg seeds, and then on to bother a church at Llangorse. I have been there before but not inside. It is apparently open daily. Still grey and cold and miserable outside, so a wrap up warm day.
Have a good weekend.
