Bite Size Twix Banana Bread

Do you have a favourite chocolate bar? I'm the youngest of 4 girls in my family.  When all my older sisters had already started school, my mom and I used to get up to all kinds of fun without them! One of our favourite things to do was day trip it in London, which was only a 20 minute train ride away.  We would go check out all the art galleries and museums - I'm pretty sure I was the only 3 and a half year old who knew my Monet from my Manet! (I'm not sure I could say the same these days...how was I more cultured as a child than a 25 year old?!) but you know what one of my favourite parts of our day was? even before we got to London? It was our little train station ritual.  We would go to the little shop on the platform and my mom would buy me a Twix (because it was my favourite!).  Without fail, every time this is how it went down.  

Until one time when my mom had to go to South Africa because her dad was in hospital, and my aunt came to look after us.  She took me to London one day so I thought I'd bring her up to speed with the Twix tradition.  She was more than happy to oblige, and it was all going so well ...up until the point when she asked me if she could have half - I was pretty horrified.  This was not how it was meant to go! I told her that my mom never asked for half my Twix and I don't remember how the rest of the story goes after that point - whether I did indeed share my Twix or whether I kept it to myself!

One thing I do know is that I'm older and wiser, and hopefully less bratty now and I'm more than ready to share Twix' all round! so here I am sharing this amazing Twix Banana Bread recipe with you after I saw it over at Jocelyn's blog.  The little chopped up Twix bits add a crunchy and chewy surprise to the banana bread and the chocolate melts into it too.  If I could make this any better, I'd probably add some kind of caramel glaze next time.  Otherwise it's a quick and easy treat to whip up for when you have over ripe bananas, one quick run to the shop to get some chocolate and you're good to go! 

Next time around I would think about making a caramel glaze to drizzle on top, it was what I had planned to do when I set out to bake them but the amazing smell in my kitchen was overwhelming and we had to tuck into them while they were still warm, foregoing any glaze making!

Twix Banana Bread:

Makes one regular loaf and 6 mini loaves

From Inside BruCrew Life

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup mashed banana (about 3)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cup chopped Twix bars

Beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat again. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda and salt. Slowly add the flour to the mixture while the mixer is running. Do not over beat.

Fold in the bananas, sour cream and Twix bars by hand until incorporated. Pour into your loaf tins that have been sprayed with non stick spray or greased with butter. Bake at 180 degrees C for 1 hour and 5 minutes. Check with a sharp knife or toothpick to see if it is done...if not, bake another 5 minutes. Let cool for 10-15 minutes in the pan, then remove and cool on a wire rack.

P.S For those observant ones out there you may have noticed I said I made a big loaf and 6 mini loaves.  Unfortunately the big loaf was not pretty enough to photograph because of the rubbish loaf pan I had bought! I had spotted a silicone orange loaf container in pound land and since I love colour co-ordinating so much I thought it would be fun to use a big orange pan alongside my little mini orange pans but the silicone wasn't sturdy enough and produced a very wonky looking loaf.

Moral of this story: don't purchase your bakeware in pound land! Many of you probably wouldn't even think to do that anyway, but remember I am stuck in North Wales and baking shops are thin on the ground so sometimes you have to take what you can get!