Click HERE for the recipe
We were recently gifted by E.'s uncle a whole lot of his delicious honey. He and his brother work on the family dairy farm in County Carlow, Ireland, and he is also an apiculturist. Having moved closer means we can visit them more often, hence the delicious honey jars now filling our cupboard (if you are looking for this particular honey, it is called 'Killoughternane Apiaries Honey').
The advantage of honey is that it does not spoil so we can keep it for as long as we want. I love honey but this is clearly a lot to go through. So, as well as gifting some to my grandfather in France (he loves honey very much), I decided to use it in recipes: dressings for salads, marinades, desserts, etc.
It occurred to me that I often crave one of my favourite childhood after-school goûter (snack): a nice slice of pain d'épices (gingerbread loaf) toasted with a bit of butter or hazelnut chocolate spread. So my best solution to this? Make it, make lots of it!
The advantage of honey is that it does not spoil so we can keep it for as long as we want. I love honey but this is clearly a lot to go through. So, as well as gifting some to my grandfather in France (he loves honey very much), I decided to use it in recipes: dressings for salads, marinades, desserts, etc.
It occurred to me that I often crave one of my favourite childhood after-school goûter (snack): a nice slice of pain d'épices (gingerbread loaf) toasted with a bit of butter or hazelnut chocolate spread. So my best solution to this? Make it, make lots of it!
When I was a child, we did not have homemade gingerbread loaf. Instead, we would get the pre-sliced version of the famous French brand 'Prosper' (some of the French readers here are probably singing 'Prosper youpla boum c'est le roi du pain d'épices' along). You could either find the plain one or individual packets of mini gingerbread slices sandwiched with either chocolate or apricot jam (the latter was definitely my favourite!).
The other pain d'épices I really loved was the one made by the cheese monger Beillevaire at the market. And I am so glad that they have not stopped making it so whenever I visit my hometown market I treat myself to a slice. Theirs is very rich with honey, denser and stickier. It is also flavoured with banana (if I am not mistaken because it is so obvious it is in there).
For my recipe, I wanted a balance between my two favourite types of gingerbread loaf, fluffy and light like the first one but with the banana flavour of the second. My first try was very dense and sticky. Sticky is delicious for a nice gingerbread (it gets stickier by the day when you keep it for a few days) but not that much that you get little pieces of cake stuck to your fingers. I made a few changes, added a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda et voilà!
The result is this delicious loaf of banana gingerbread. It is wonderfully flavoured, fluffy and moist as it should be!
And as a plus, your home will smell nicely of spices and honey for a few days after baking it.
I'm off for a little goûter de pain d'épices! If you would like to give it a try, the recipe is below.
The other pain d'épices I really loved was the one made by the cheese monger Beillevaire at the market. And I am so glad that they have not stopped making it so whenever I visit my hometown market I treat myself to a slice. Theirs is very rich with honey, denser and stickier. It is also flavoured with banana (if I am not mistaken because it is so obvious it is in there).
For my recipe, I wanted a balance between my two favourite types of gingerbread loaf, fluffy and light like the first one but with the banana flavour of the second. My first try was very dense and sticky. Sticky is delicious for a nice gingerbread (it gets stickier by the day when you keep it for a few days) but not that much that you get little pieces of cake stuck to your fingers. I made a few changes, added a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda et voilà!
The result is this delicious loaf of banana gingerbread. It is wonderfully flavoured, fluffy and moist as it should be!
And as a plus, your home will smell nicely of spices and honey for a few days after baking it.
I'm off for a little goûter de pain d'épices! If you would like to give it a try, the recipe is below.
Banana Gingerbread Loaf Recipe (Vegetarian)
Click HERE for the recipe
