Simple Banana, Oat and Raisin Cookies - Recipe

I rattled up a batch of these really simple Banana, Oat and Raisin cookies before work last Saturday morning. They really are seriously easy and quick to make. In despite of this, they are ludicrously tasty and relatively healthy too ! 

Kids visiting with their parents were only too happy to wolf down two or three each. Little hands kept creeping back to the tray for another. They are quite dense and chewy - but not overly so.

We often have overripe bananas that end up in the bin. I know you can freeze them and make them into cakes and ice cream.... but this is so simple with just a few ingredients. I'm sure I'll be making them again soon.

I used my Revolutionary Macaron Mats for ease. A spoonful of mixture into each marked circle produced 45 little banana cookies. This mixture does not spread. Just flatten a little with the back of a fork or spoon.

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas - mashed

2 1/2 cups of porridge oats

1/3 cup oil

1 cup of raisins

100g crunchy peanut butter

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup of golden syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat fan oven to 175 deg C

Literally just mix all of the above ingredients together and sit aside for 15 mins or so whilst the oven preheats.

Spoon on to trays lined with silicone baking sheets - or alternatively on to macaron mats.

Bake for approx 15 mins until golden. Allow to cool on a wire rack and then serve.

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com - January 2015

Upside Down Banana Pudding - a warm and sticky treat !

Well - I'll admit I'm cheating a bit here. It's a few weeks since I made this - but then again, I have been terribly behind in blogging !

Pudding is something I rarely make. However, sometimes when it's cold and dark outside it's quite comforting to make and devour a good old fashioned English pud. It's sweet and syrupy. The hot bananas are lovely and the little alcohol hit from the plump sultanas was nice but not overpowering.

This recipe originates from OLIVE magazine last year and is posted on the BBC Good Food Website here.

Apologies for the photos - they really are not good. The lighting was dismal and everyone was waiting to eat it - including Oliver who was bouncing up and down like a puppy on a lead whilst yelping "Pudding, pudding, pudding!"

It was all I could do to keep the fabric on the kitchen side as he was so keen to get to this .... It's a miracle that somehow it did not land on the floor !

Ingredients

100g of sultanas
50ml of brandy or rum

5 large bananas

75g softened butter

100g caster sugar

1 egg

1tsp vanilla

175g self raising flour

60g of pecans*

1/2 tsp nutmeg*

1 tsp cinnamon*

8 tbsp golden syrup

I ommitted the nuts and upped the sultanas only because I didn't have any and the nutmeg and cinnamon were my own additions

Soak the sultanas in rum for 30mins. Actually, I used home made apple brandy and soaked them over night in more like 75ml.

Heat the oven to 160deg C or 140deg C if fan oven

Line a 2lb loaf tin with baking paper. I actually used a 2lb silicone loaf mould. I did line the base with a strip of baking paper incase it needed a bit of help with all the golden syrup and bananas at the bottom. (Next time I really wouldn't worry as the bananas were nicely bedded into the sponge part and the syrupy stuff) just runs out.

Next, put in the golden syrup.

Slice two of the bananas lengthway and then cut in half across the middle. Lay the slices into the loaf tin or 2lb silicone loaf mould / mold. The bananas want to be face down and these will eventually become the top of your pudding.

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and combine followed by vanilla, spices, flour and remaining bananas (mashed). Stir in the sultanas and then put the batter on top of the bananas

Bake for approx 50mins. Remove from oven and leave to stand for a few minutes before turning out.

Serve hot, as you like - with cream, ice cream or custard.

Not any good reheated on day two - so the chickens finished it. It's quite a good sized pud - easily serves six people.

Sarah-Jane Nash, December 2010 - siliconemoulds.com - the silicone bakeware specialist cook shop

Banana and Cinnamon Monkey Bread

A moreish sticky treat. I haven't worked out the calories and have no intention of doing so. There's no point - my maths isn't good enough to deal with than many numbers ! I'm sure this is absolutely tops of bad calorie charts.... Well - maybe not... it DOES have banana in it .. !?!

We've got a new, black silicone bundt mould just come in as part of our Daily Use Range. It's actually just the same as the blue one we already do - but a more practical colour to blend in with traditional bakeware. What better excuse to make a new treat. I took it to work yesterday, and it's life was short lived. Staff and customers soon ripped it to shreds, devouring and savouring every gooey cinnamon mouthful.

I'd seen recipes for Monkey Bread before - but never had a go. It seems to be a popular American treat and most make it with a premade dough stuff that you buy from the supermarket chiller cabinet... I don't think you can get that here in the UK, and I can't believe it's anywhere as good as a fresh homemade dough without preservatives.

Weird name - but it seems to be because you pick and pull at the balls of dough just like a monkey would. It's like a kind of tear and share bread

So - I had a go myself and created the recipe below. It's kinda like Cinnabon - but 100x better

INGREDIENTS - for the dough

500g strong bread flour
1.1/2 teaspoons sale
1 sachet of fast (breadmaker) yeast
200g (peeled weight) mashed bananas
2 tablespoons of sugar
50g of melted butter
250ml lukewarm water

For the coating

1 cup soft light brown sugar
1 cup soft brown sugar
4 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons mixed spice

125g butter - melted

Basically, put all dough ingredients in a big bowl and bring together with a fork. Turn out and knead until Gluten develops and the dough becomes silky.

As you can see from the photo below, this is a really sticky dough and a bit on the wet side. My pastry cutter from Lakeland is a god-send for sticky doughs like this as it makes it easy to scrape it back up off the work tops and get into a ball. If you really struggle with it, you could add a bit more flour... but it IS a loose dough. Alternatively, make it in a mixer with a dough hook if you have one

Once the dough is well kneaded and very pliable, put it back in the bowl and cover with clingfilm until doubled in size.

When the dough has risen, knock it back and roll it out. I cut mine into strips and then into small cubes - about 3/4" and rolled into balls.

Dunk each ball into the melted butter and then roll in the sugar and spice mix. I found it easy enough to do 6 > 8 balls in the sugar mix at the same time.

Nestle all the balls into the silicone bundt mould. It'll be a little over half full. Cover in plastic and put in a warm place for at least an hour until doubled in size.

I actually had my oven on when I was making this, so I shoved it on a rack in the top oven (switched off). It rose and rose and rose - and then rose more in the oven. About 8 of the dough balles ended up cascading over the mould as it was a little too full - but no harm was done.

Do note that the bundt mould needs to be used on a baking tray. Here is mine ready to go in the oven. My husband think it looks like brains !

Shove it in the oven at 180deg C (fan) for 30 mins. The base should be crispy.

Leave to cool for 10mins after taking out - the syrupy stuff will be ever so hot - so let it cool before turning out or you could burn yourself.

I pulled the edges of the mould away from the monkey bread to check it was free (no problem there)

Put a plate over the top of the mould and turn the whole lot upside down.

This mould was NOT greased or oiled in any way.

I gave it a little wiggle and a push and squeeze from the top. The Monkey Bread released easily

It would have been really nice as it was, but to take it to another level - I smothered in in great dollops of cream cheese icing.

Sorry - I don't have the volumes for the icing. Just 100g cream cheese plus icing sugar until a nice this consistency. I then zapped it in the microwave for 10 seconds to get a dropping consistency. If you do this, don't let it stand about for long afterwards as the icing starts to set fairly rapidly. Finished picture at the top.

Serve when still warm - though was perfectly edible the next morning :-)