Sugar Fixin'

They say you should listen to your body, so when my body demands a good dose of sugar far be it for me to ignore it. No, I'd never respond negatively to a request for something sweet and tasty, particularly if I have been for a good big long run. Though this was not the case today, today my cravings seemed to be leaning instinctively towards cultivating layers of fat to insulate against the cold. When I was trying to figure out how to feed my greed this afternoon, I was in the mood for something soft and springy with a lump of butter melting on it...kinda like banana bread, only more interesting. So I raided my bible du jour, Nigella's 'Kitchen', and decided to give the coconut and cherry banana bread a go.

The good old butter wrappers came into their own for this one; I love using butter wrappers to line a loaf tin, no cutting or greasing, you just pop them right in, and they make a lovely homemadey packagey thingy for it when it's done.

The best bananas are the ones that are on their way out, the browny-speckled ones. They're the softest and sweetest, so be a good person and rescue an old ailing banana that no-one else wants. I prefer to mash mine on a plate rather than a bowl, I just find it easier. Mashed bananas always remind me of the bowl of mush in that children's book Goodnight Moon.

And the mush got mushier.

The coconut gave it a lovely texture. Note the mounting compost pile in the background, cannot put off venturing out to the garden to get rid of it for too much longer.

I thought that it'd be slightly torturous to have to wait 50 minutes for this to bake, but in the meantime I did some cleaning up and man I must have had more of a mess of a house than I realised cause that 50 minutes fairly flew.

I use a stick of spaghetti to test my cakes, and after the 50 minutes the spaghetti said 'NEH-NAHHH'. So I put it in for another five, after which the spaghetti responded in a more positive manner.

And THEN I had to wait another feckin ten minutes. I'm chewing my nails in impatience just thinking about it.

But it was worth the wait, so very very worth it. (And also now my house is nice and clean).