I opened the car’s glove compartment yesterday in search of a CD… but came across a couple of “past their sell by date” bananas instead. They’d been put there a few days earlier as an “on board” snack for a trip we’d made to Penrith. Rather than throw them out (or giving them to Fudge as a treat) I decided to make some banana parkin… with a ginger twist!
Parkin is a cake traditionally eaten in the autumn – and especially on Bonfire Night. It’s very popular, and thought to have originated, in the north of England – probably Yorkshire or Lancashire.
The method I used was taken from The Great Big Cookie Book by Hilaire Walden.
Banana parkin
Ingredients
- 200 g/7oz plain flour
- 10 ml/2tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 10 ml/2tsp ground ginger
- 150 g/5oz medium oatmeal
- 60 ml/4tbs
- 75 g/3oz margarine
- 150 g/5oz/ golden syrup
- 1 egg beaten
- 3 ripe bananas mashed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas mark 3. Grease & line an 18cm x 28cm / 7” x 11” tin.
- Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger, then stir in the oatmeal.
- Melt the sugar, margarine and syrup in a saucepan over a low heat, then stir into the flour mixture. Beat in the egg and mashed bananas.
- Spoon into the prepared tin and bake for about an hour until firm to the touch.
- Leave to cool in the tin, then turn out and cut into squares. (I made mine in a loaf tin, so I cut it into slices).
Parkin improves with age and, if stored in an airtight container, keeps for a couple of months.
Perfect with a mug of strong (Yorkshire… or Lancashire) tea!