Banana Bread Recipe

Grease the loaf tin and line it with baking parchment, then preheat your oven to 180°C (Gas Mark 4). Put the banana chunks and vanilla extract into the bowl of a food processor, break in the egg and then pulse until smoothly combined. Add the margarine and sugar to the bowl and blitz again to mix, then tip in the flour and spices and pulse again until the flour has been combined and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the dried fruit (if using) – do this by hand, rather than using the mixer blade – then pour the mixture into the prepared tin and put it into the hot oven. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean, then place the loaf on a wire rack and leave to cool in the tin for at least 20 minutes before serving. This recipe freezes well, so if you have quite a few overripe bananas to use up, you could make several loaves and then slice and freeze them - just pop slices in the toaster (ensuring they’re thoroughly heated through) as and when you fancy them.