Have fun with your kids in the kitchen this summer (and an awesome kid-friendly banana bread recipe)

July 05, 2016

Summer is here and Moms all over America are going crazy devising ways of keeping the kids entertained. Getting the kids in the kitchen has been a winning summer activity in our house. The kids love it, and so do I. It seems to be the one place where they happily work as a team. My (almost) grade 1 daughter practices her reading, wooden spoon pointed at the lines of the recipe book and my 4 year old son is becoming a pro at cracking eggs! My kids learn about measurements and patience (half an hour in the over is FOREVER when you're a kid) and I love that they both take enormous pride in slicing up the end result. So far, everything has been more than edible so I call that a win!

A new family kitchen concoction has become banana bread. It’s quick and simple, uses up those over-ripe bananas and is a fantastic picnic treat.

This recipe has been adapted from a New Zealand cook book author from my childhood, Mary Pat Fergus. Any kiwi kid of my generation is sure to have owned one of her cook books and my kids love them just as much as I did.

• 50g butter
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I recommend Heilala Vanilla Extract)
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ cup milk
• 2 mashed ripe bananas

1. Turn oven to 350F and grease tin
2. Gently soften butter in a hot water bath and add sugar, egg and Heilala vanilla extract
3. Mix well with a wooden spoon until smooth
4. Sift in flour, baking powder and soda – but don’t stir yet!
5. Add milk and mashed banana and stir until it’s just mixed
6. Spread evenly in tin and bake for 30 minutes

Heilala grows organic Bourbon variety vanilla beans which are cured by hand for maximum vanillin production. The extract is batch brewed in stainless steel vats where diced vanilla beans are carefully soaked in cold water and alcohol. This unique cold extract, slow percolation method draws out the delicate aromatics and sweet, creamy and complex flavors of the high quality Heilala beans. 

Heilala Vanilla Extract is one of the only sugar-free extracts on the USA. This quality, authentic extract is vegan since the ethanol used in the Heilala Vanilla extraction process is produced via a distillation process that removes all trace of dairy; it's kosher, gluten free, allergen free, organically grown and True Pacific certified.

Most importantly it's free of chemicals and synthetic imitation flavors found in vanilla essence and vanilla flavoring. If you’re not sure about the difference between vanilla extract and vanilla essence, or imitation vanilla this is a good read: The difference between vanilla essence and vanilla extract (and how to your your own at home) 

Heilala Vanilla extract comes in 50ml glass bottles and they have recently launched their new line of flavor infused extracts.

Happy summer baking (and eating!) everyone.