A Winning Banana Nut Bread

Ingredients

• 6 ripe medium bananas
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 275 g cake flour
• 15 ml baking powder
• 2 ml salt
• 200 g sugar
• 150 g peanuts, chopped
• 2 eggs, separated
• 50 g butter or margarine, melted
• 5 ml grated lemon rind

Directions

1. 1

   Preheat the oven to 180C/350°F Grease a 23x13x7 cm loaf tin. Peel and mash the bananas and mix them with the lemon juice.

2. 2

   Sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt, in a fairly large mixing bowl. Add the sugar and nuts and mix. Beat the egg yolks and add them to the flour mixture with the butter or margarine. Mix lightly.

3. 3

   Add the banana pulp and lemon rind and mix well.

4. 4

   Beat the egg whites until just stiff, and fold them lightly into the batter with a metal spoon.

5. 5

   Spoon the batter into the tin, level it off, and sprinkle more nuts on top if desired. (I sprinkle some brown sugar on top).

6. 6

   Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 60 minutes. Test with a skewer to see if done: if the skewer comes out clean, the loaf is ready; if it does not, bake for a further 10 to 15 minutes.

7. 7

   Allow the loaf to cool slightly in the tin. Turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.