Here's the recipe we used:                                                    [download a one page PDF of this recipe here]     
(Adapted from 'Friends of Horicon Marsh' cookbook)
 
Ingredients
1 and 3/4 cup plain flour
3/4 cup raw sugar
1tsp baking soda (bicarb soda)
1/2tsp salt
1 cup mashed banana
2 Tathra Homestead free range eggs 
1/2 cup Tathra Homestead 2017 Kitchen Garden extra virgin olive oil 
1/4 cup Jersey Fresh milk
1tsp vanilla essence 
 
Method
1. Heat oven to 180C 
2. In one bowl mix flour, sugar, baking soda and salt
3. In a second bowl mix mashed banana, eggs, milk, olive oil and vanilla
4. Add wet mixture into dry mixture bowl and stir until combined
5. Pour mixture into loaf tin which is lined with baking paper
6. Bake for 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean
                    [Baking time in our fan-forced oven, may vary in your oven]

We let the loaf cool on the rack for about 5 minutes before diving in with butter slathered on our slices. The kids love it, and because of the extra virgin olive oil in the recipe, the loaf doesn't dry out quickly so will be perfect for lunchboxes this week (if it lasts that long!).

This recipe makes a loaf that is about 5cm tall.

Quick, easy and delicious banana loaf (banana bread). Enjoy!

Here's the recipe we used:                                                                                                      [download a PDF of the recipe]
(Adapted from Children's Party Cookbook by Hatty Stead and Annabel Waley-Cohen)

We made one batch and were able to cut out 17 biscuits.

Ingredients
250g plain flour
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp bi-carb soda
125g butter, softened
170g brown sugar
3 tbsp Sticky Fig Syrup (from The Figgery Kangaroo Island)
1 medium egg (a Tathra Homestead one of course!)

Method
Heat the oven to 190C

In a medium sized bowl put in the flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, bi-carb soda and butter. This bit is a tad messy, as you use your hands to mix it all together until you've got a mixture that looks like breadcrumbs.

Add the sugar, syrup and egg to the bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until combined well enough to form a ball of dough. Make a ball in the bowl and cover it with some gladwrap then pop into the fridge to chill. We left it for about 40 minutes.

Time to roll out the dough! On a floured surface roll the dough to about 5mm thick.

Time to cut out your biscuits! Taylor used a Christmas tree cutter and a deer cutter that we got from our fabulous local shop Tiny Nest, along with a star cutter. Pop the biscuits onto a tray lined with baking paper and bake for 8-10 minutes.

[side note] In our oven we needed 10 minutes, after checking them at 8 minutes they weren't quite golden.  And interestingly some of the shapes really puffed and others stayed quite flat.

Once done, take the tray out the oven and leave the biscuits to sit for 5 minutes to harden. Then pop them onto a cooling rack for 45 minutes - 1 hour to cool down before decorating.

We used some 'writing icing' for the first time - just from the baking isle in our local supermarket. The little tubes were perfect for little hands and allowed Taylor to make lines, swirls and more. They took a bit of practice but she's excited to use them again for future baking projects!

To go with the biscuits, Taylor has also lovingly painted some pictures for both her and Jack's educators. We hope the enjoy their presents and their well deserved break over Christmas.

Happy Christmas from our family to yours.