I know the world doesn’t need another banana bread recipe, and yet here we are. In my defence, this one earns its place through two things: the toasted walnuts, which add a bittersweet crunch, and the maple glaze, which transforms a humble loaf into something genuinely special. It started as a way to use up three very sad-looking bananas on the worktop and has since become the thing I bake most often.
Ingredients
For the bread
- 3 very ripe bananas (the blacker the better)
- 100g unsalted butter, melted
- 150g light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 225g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- Pinch of salt
- 100g walnut halves, roughly chopped and lightly toasted
For the maple glaze
- 100g icing sugar
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1-2 tsp warm water
- A few walnut halves for decoration
Method
- Preheat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan). Grease and line a 900g loaf tin.
- Mash the bananas in a large bowl — leave some small chunks for texture. Stir in the melted butter, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla.
- Sift in the flour, cinnamon, bicarbonate of soda, and salt. Fold together until just combined, then fold in the chopped walnuts.
- Pour into the prepared tin. Bake for 50–55 minutes until a skewer comes out with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it.
- Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- For the glaze, sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Stir in the maple syrup and enough warm water to make a thick but pourable consistency. Drizzle over the cooled loaf and top with walnut halves.
The riper your bananas, the better this bread will be — I’m talking properly black and squidgy. If yours aren’t quite there yet, you can speed things up by roasting unpeeled bananas at 180°C for 15 minutes. They won’t look pretty, but the flavour will be perfect. This loaf keeps well for four days, or you can slice and freeze it for up to three months.
