Cranberry and Banana Bread

What do you do when your freezer door won't close?  You ram your bum up against it and keep pushing until the realisation hits home that the rule of "thou must taketh something out" kicks in.  If rationing ever gets introduced, you'll know where to come - just so you know! 

The other day, I took 4 bananas and a half tub of cranberries out of the freezer.  Door closed, now what was I going to do with the ingredients?  I found this wonderful banana bread recipe on Joy the Bakers site.  I'm so happy with this bread.  It's spicy, it's moist, it's sweet and it's just a teeny bit tart.  It's absolutely perfect.  It's very different to any of my other banana bread recipes in that the taste of the bananas doesn't come through very strong but they give it that lovely moist texture.  Such a simple recipe and definitely one I'll be making over and over again.

Banana and Cranberry Bread, adapted from Joy The Baker

I have been asked by some US readers if I could use cup measures or at least the imperial measurements.  Happy to oblige when I can.

Ingredients

3 large or 4 medium bananas, mashed

70g (1/3 cup) butter, melted and cooled slightly

50g (1/4 cup) white sugar 

70g (1/3 cup) brown sugar

1 egg beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp dark rum (optional)

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Pinch ground cloves

120g (3/4 cup) plain flour

115g (3/4 cup) spelt or wholemeal flour (I used spelt)

100g (1 cup) fresh or frozen cranberries

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F) and grease and line a 900g (2 lb) loaf tin. With a wooden spoon, mix the butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, vanilla and rum, then the spices. Sprinkle the baking soda over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour, mix. Add the cranberries, and stir until just incorporated.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack.

Cranberry, Rum and White Chocolate Cookies

1. Christmas Presents - Check

2. Enough bottles of wine to last us 'til Easter - Check

3. Turkey and Ham for the Big Day - Check

4. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire - Check

5. Jack Frost nipping at my nose - Check

5. Christmas Baking - ...............................

All you bloggers have been busy little elves over the past few weeks putting the rest of us to shame with your Gingerbread Houses, Christmas Fruit Cakes, Christmas Pudding, Yule Logs.  I've looked at them all and if the truth be told, I may have salivated over some of them.  But I haven't baked anything with a Christmas theme - Christmas baking doesn't go down so well in our house so I would be the one scoffing the lot.   Granted, I would do it gladly but my rotund middle wouldn't thank me for it!

To keep everyone happy, Christmas baking this year will be a Baileys Cheesecake, Tiramisu (can that even be classed as baking?), Nigella's Puddini (Christmas pudding and melted chocolate rolled into truffle sized balls) and these Choc Chip cookies.  After that, I feel no guilt in saying that I'm putting my feet up and digging into the tin of Roses.

To make these cookies a little bit special, I've soaked the fruit in a few tablespoons of rum but I've drained most of it out so don't worry about getting an alcohol kick - the taste is extremely subtle as I drain off most of the alcohol.  If you'd prefer, just leave out the rum altogether and I guarantee you these cookies will still taste amazing.

Adapted from Nigella Lawsons "Feast"

Makes 30 cookies

Ingredients
2 tablespoons dark rum
75g dried cranberries
140g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
75g rolled oats
125g butter, softened
175g soft brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
50g pecans, roughly chopped
140g white chocolate chips

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Place the cranberries in a small bowl and add the rum.  Set aside for at least an hour, stirring every now and again so that a little bit of rum hits each cranberry.
Combine the flour, baking powder and oats and set aside.
Beat the butter and sugar until creamy and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla and beat again.  Beat in the flour mixture then fold in the chocolate chips and the pecans.
Drain the rum from the cranberries and fold them into the mixture.
With the dough in the mixing bowl, leave it in the fridge to set for 10-15 mins.
Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into balls with your hands and place them on a lined baking sheet.  Then squish the dough balls down with a fork.
Bake for 15 mins after which they should be golden at the edges.  Allow to cool slightly on the baking tray for 5 mins before they cool fully on a wire rack.

Cranberry, Coconut and Lime Cake

It's the one time of the year when everyone has a spring in their step.  Thoughts of "recession", "breakdown of the EU" and "austerity measures" that have followed us around like a bad smell over the past 11 months of the year are brushed under the carpet for a few weeks - January 1st is time enough to have to deal with these mindnumbingly depressing subjects.  We're all happy to sing along to Christmas songs in the supermarket, smile at a stranger on the street (not in a creepy way!) and say "Happy Christmas" to staff in shops as they gift wrap that last minute present that you're still not 100% sure about - best to hang on to the receipt just in case his eyes don't light up quite as you'd expect.

As it's the third week in December, Christmas has definitely arrived.  It's time I baked something a little bit Christmasy.  To ease myself slowly into the Christmas baking season, I saw half price cranberries in the supermarket - bingo, that sealed the deal.  I started off with this recipe on Baking Bites website but adapted it quite a bit.  This is such a lovely teatime cake, the lime and coconut combination goes so well with the tartiness of the cranberries.  Just to make it a little bit special I mixed some white rum with a few tablespoons of lime juice and poured it over the warm cake to keep it moist and to add a very subtle kick to it.  I would safely say that this is one of the nicest "plain" cakes I have tasted in a long time.  It's moist, it's sweet n' sour and the lime, coconut, rum combo is delicious.  I'm well chuffed with this creation!



Cranberry, Coconut and Lime Cake, inspired by Baking Bites

Ingredients
220g plain flour
375g sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
lime juice from 5 limes
1 tbsp lime zest
3 tbsp canola oil
2 large eggs
3 tbsp milk
130g fresh or frozen (unthawed) cranberries
50g desiccated coconut, plus an additional handful to sprinkle on top
2 tbsp white rum

Method
Preheat oven to 180C and lightly grease and flour a 2lb loaf tin.
Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk together the milk and eggs.  Add in lime juice, lime zest from 4 of the 5 limes, oil, eggs and milk and whisk until just combined.
Use a spatula to stir in in cranberries and desiccated coconut, then pour out the batter into prepared tin.  Sprinkle a handful of desiccated coconut on the top of the cake.
Bake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes.
Mix together the juice of the remaining lime and the rum.  While the cake is still warm, use a skewer to insert holes and pour the mixture over.

Cranberry Oat Bread

Time is fast running out.  This is week 3 of my maternity leave from work and I don’t remember having as much free time since I was about 12 years old!  Baby was due yesterday so hospital bag is by the door and while I’m putting the inevitable pain that accompanies a baby into the world to the back of my head, I’m ready to rock and roll.

I’m loving the “holiday” that I’m on just now and could quite easily settle into a happy routine of bringing kids to crèche, spending the day trying out new recipes and writing about them.  There are a few light household tasks thrown in but nothing too stressful.  I’ve been trying to get my head around the fact that this temporary life is a time bomb waiting to explode and in its place will be a busy schedule of feeding and changing a tiny newborn baby.  Add sleep deprivation and two more kids under 4 to the mix and I think my life as I know it will be stopped in its tracks – for a while anyway.  I’m comforting myself with the fact that while my “holiday” will be over,

(i)         I’ll have a beautiful tiny, helpless baby to look after

(ii)        I’ll be able to bend down to pick things off the ground (always a benefit)

(iii)       Walking to the shops won’t feel like I’ve climbed Everest with a full bladder.

(iv)      Getting back into running again may (I said “may”) help with the sleep deprivation – will keep you posted on that one!   

Anyway, until baby decides to make an appearance I’ll keep baking. 

Today I decided to try Dan Lepards Cranberry Oat Bread.  I’m not a frequent bread maker and when I do make bread, I usually stick to soda bread which requires no kneading.  This recipe caught my eye as it only needs to be kneaded 3 times, for 10 seconds each time.  Yes, there’s the usual resting and rising time but if you’re going to be in the house for the morning, that shouldn’t be a problem.  The spice taste is very subtle, as is the little bit of Clementine zest.  If I was to change anything about the recipe, I’d reduce the amount of dried cranberries as the ones that don’t sink into the bread just burn in the oven.  It’s a lovely tasty bread and so, so simple to make.

Dan Lepards Cranberry Oat Bread

Ingredients

75g rolled oats, plus extra for the crust
175g dried cranberries
450g strong white flour
1½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon or mixed spice
Finely grated zest of 1 mandarin, clementine or orange
50g unsalted butter
1 tsp instant dry yeast
Oil, for kneading

Method

Put the oats and cranberries in a bowl and add 375ml boiling water. Leave for 15-20 minutes, until the mixture is warm. Spoon the flour, salt, spice and zest into another bowl, rub in the butter, toss the yeast through, then add the oats and berries, and mix well. Leave to stand for 10 minutes.

Oil your hands and a 30cm patch of worktop, knead the dough on it for 10 seconds, then leave for 10 minutes. Repeat this knead-and-rest sequence twice more at 10-minute intervals, then cover the dough and leave for 30 minutes. Pat the dough into a rectangle, roll up tightly and squeeze, seam-side down, into a large, deep, 19cm-long loaf tin, or place on a baking tray, lined with nonstick paper. Leave for an hour until risen by half. Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan-assisted)/425F/gas mark 7. Brush the top of the loaf with water, press on a handful of oats, cut a gash down the middle and bake for 50 minutes. It will scorch on top, but that's typical for fruit bread.