Decadent Banana Bread

I'm not finished with Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess."  You've seen me make banana bread on this blog before, but this recipe is slightly different.  There's less flour and sugar, more bananas, as well as fruit and nuts.  Nigella's recipe calls for a 1/2 cup of golden raisins, but I usually use dried cranberries.  Place these in a small pan with 6 Tbsp or Rum or Brandy, and I'm sure you can recognize the Cockspur Rum from previous posts.

Let it come to a boil, then cover and let it sit for an hour, or until most of the liquid is absorbed by the fruit.

Next mix up the dry ingredients, 1 cup flour, 2 Tbsp cocoa powder, baking powder, soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

Next melt 1 stick of butter, and combine with 1/2 cup of white sugar.

Add 2 eggs one at a time.

Mix in mashed bananas (4 of them).  I employed an interesting mashing method, since I forgot to mash them before adding them in.

Then add the nuts (I used hazelnuts), the dried cranberries which are now plump from absorbing the alcohol, and some chocolate chips.

Mix it all together, and then add the dry ingredients 1/3 at a time.

Pour into a pan and bake for 1-1 3/4 hours.

Perfection!