Chapter Eight.

Easter Cakes and Banana Bread.

Family, Food & Nostalgia.


Now as a child Nan was one of the main reasons for getting me up to scratch with cooking skills and was the main teacher for my brother and myself. She was always concerned with this as she felt it is a main asset to be able to cook to prepare us for adulthood. Also she feels quite strongly that the schools in modern day do not enforce home economics and the homely subjects that helped every pupil with the necessary jobs especially cooking.
Here is a little interview with her on her interest of cooking and where it comes from:

Now a recipe, just for Easter time, is my Nan's Easter biscuits that she taught me to make.
These always are my favourite part of Easter time, especially with a nice hot cup of tea and a good movie on the telly.

Follow these simple instructions and this is the result.

Don't forget to sprinkle granulated sugar or caster sugar over the biscuits! Or the bunnies will not be happy!

These Easter biscuits are always really good and even better than the shop bought ones. To test a good Easter biscuit is to test the flavour. The cassia oil is the main functional ingredient that you need to make the lovely taste of them. 2 drops should be substantial maybe 3 if they are little ones. It is the lovely fragrant taste of the oil mixed in with the crunchy biscuit and the sweet sugar, that make a good Easter biscuit a crowd pleaser. As Nigel Slater in his works Eating for England, has a chapter called "The Biscuit Tin". He says:

 " We are the everyday capital biscuit of the world...What France is to cheese, Italy is to pasta, Britain is to the biscuit".

I started liking these biscuits when Nan used to make them with us when we were really young. We would usually try to stuff our faces with our Easter eggs, but Nan would always get to us before we could rip open the boxes. Well done Nan!

Even when I was really, really young I used to love these biscuits when sat in my high chair or in my pram on a day trip somewhere. I used to love the sugary coating and nibble away at the edges. I remember my brother asking Nan "has Annabel been nibbling at all the biscuits?!", this was because that time she made them she used a circular cutter, which gives the effect of the ridges on the biscuits (as you can see above). 

This my Nan with my Mum (little then), her first husband Michael (my Granddad), Uncle Stephen and my great Aunty Yvonne.

 

 

 

This was taken down in Weston-super-mare in the Easter time.

 

These recipes I am sharing are from when my Nan was really quite young to the collection from her recent interests. This part of the blog is essential as it stays true to the theme and it is a main reason why I am so inspired by my Nan all the time. She is the main person who helps everyone out and her cooking is my earliest memories of 'home'. I feel really proud to be able to share these recipes and really enjoy making them when I am away from home. 

 

Another recipe which is a food memory, is my Nan's recipe for Banana bread. 

This 'bread' is the best thing since sliced bread!

You will need a loaf tin for this recipe to give the shape of the 'bread'. It is a cakey texture but in the shape of a loaf of bread. The recipe can be twisted many ways by adding in extra ingredients, Nan puts in white chocolate for me. Cranberries, dark chocolate is a good mix. Also apricots, raisins and sultanas are good too!

This recipe is a main asset to Nan's recipes and everyone really loves it in my family. It is the memory of coming home and grabbing a slice of this with a good cup of tea and chatting about the manic day I just had, that sums up the main reason for my nostalgic and adoration for my Nan's cooking. There are many recipes nowadays of banana bread, it has become somewhat of a modern and cosmopolitan breakfast treat or afternoon snack.

Miss Sophie Dahl has an exciting recipe for this as well....
http://www.sophiedahl.com/recipe/banana-bread

This as famous in the family as my Nan's Victoria Sponge recipe. My Dad, Granddad and Uncle Stephen all ask for a loaf if there is one going.