TITLE: Sticky Toffee Banana Bread
AUTHORS: Emma Ganley

[DESCRIPTION]
<div class = "text-blocks"><div class = "text-block">A delicious recipe for sticky toffee banana bread. </div><div class = "text-block">Recipe adapted from the BBC Goodfood 2021 calendar.</div><div class = "text-block">**Contains nuts, but you could easily leave them out.</div></div>

[STEPS]
?. [Baking the Banana Bread]
Pre-heat your oven to 160 C / 140 C fan / Gas mark 3
?. [Baking the Banana Bread]
Butter a 900g loaf tin and line with a strip of baking parchment paper.
?. [Toffee Sauce]
Melting/boiling sugar is very very hot - be careful with all subsequent steps for making the toffee sauce
?. [Baking the Banana Bread]
Beat  with both sugars ( &  ) in a bowl with an electric whisk for  until very fluffy.
[softened butter]
[caster sugar]
[dark brown soft sugar]
?. [Baking the Banana Bread]
Whisk the 3 eggs, 2 mashed ripe bananas and 50g natural yoghurt together in a separate bowl until mostly smooth.
?. [Baking the Banana Bread]
Whisk the egg/banana/yoghurt mix into the butter/sugar mix.
?. [Baking the Banana Bread]
Add and fold in the  and 2 tsp baking powder to your mix until just combined.
[plain flour]
?. [Baking the Banana Bread]
Finally, add and fold in the  and .
[chopped dates]
[chopped nuts]
?. [Baking the Banana Bread]
Spoon into the tin, smooth the top, and bake for  -  until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
?. [Baking the Banana Bread]
Leave to cool in the tin for , then lift out using the strip of parchment.
?. [Baking the Banana Bread]
You can serve warm now and eat if you want, or leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
Banana break will keep for four days in an airtight container.This can also be frozen at this stage to use/eat at a later date.
?. [Toffee Sauce]
Carefully whisk in the  until smooth.
[butter]
?. [Toffee Sauce]
Pour in the  slowly and bring to a bubble.
[double cream]
?. [Toffee Sauce]
Mix until the sauce is smooth and shiny. Pour into a heatproof bowl, cover and leave to cool to .
0 Room temperature
?. [Banana and Nut Brittle]
Put the  in a frying pan over a medium heat with 2 tbsp water, stir briefly, then simmer for  until the mixture turns amber and makes caramel.
[caster sugar]
Don't stir after the initial mix, just tilt the pan to get an even deep golden colour.
?. [Banana and Nut Brittle]
While waiting for the caramel, line a baking tray with baking parchment paper.
?. [Banana and Nut Brittle]
Carefully stir the nuts, banana chips and salt into the caramel to coat and then pour onto the lined baking tray.
Tip the tray (or use a spoon) to make sure the nuts are in a single layer - they'll be harder to separate later.
?. [Putting it all together]
Stir the toffee sauce to loosen, you may want to warm for a few seconds in the microwave (and you could try adding a drop more cream if needed).
?. [Banana and Nut Brittle]
Leave to cool completely and then break into shards.
?. [Putting it all together]
Drizzle the toffee sauce over the cake so it drops down the sides.
?. [Putting it all together]
Top with shards of brittle.
?. [Putting it all together]
Slice & eat! Enjoy :)
Your delicious sticky toffee banana bread will keep for two days in an airtight container.
?. [Toffee Sauce]
Melt  in a heavy-based frying pan over a medium-low heat until light golden and liquid.
[light brown soft sugar]
Don't stir, just tilt the pan
?. [Banana and Nut Brittle]
Melting/boiling sugar is very very hot - be careful with all subsequent steps for making the caramel and brittle.