I almost didn’t blog this amazing loaf. I’ve made it so many times that I assumed that I must have posted it long ago. I double checked fortunately, so now you get to find out about it too. Plus I have a regular reader (Hi there Amber!) who has requested something chocolate!

Something a little more special than your ordinary banana loaf, this is peppered with hunks of dark chocolate and banana and has a hint of light spice from the addition of tea Masala. Not the wine, the Indian spice blend. It’s readily available in Indian grocers and I’ve seen it often in the international sections in supermarkets. If you cannot find it you could substitute with Chai syrup, just reduce the amount of milk you add in proportion to the syrup, or you can just leave it out altogether. I often make this just as is, without any additions.

It’s quick to make, chocolatey, moist and dark. It’s a little different from most banana loaves in that you do not mash the bananas to a complete pulp, so that you discover small moist chunks of banana as you eat your way through it.

It’s a cloudy day and I wanted something comforting. Grief hits in waves I’ve discovered, sometimes there are triggers, and sometimes no reason at all. This is one of those no reason at all times. There is something about chocolate and spice that can lift your mood and sooth a jangled mind. Food is not only about sustenance it’s also about creating memories with family, friends, places and sometimes - just sometimes it’s about softening the outside world a little too.

If you need a cosy moment and feel like a “food cuddle” try this, it makes the world melt away for a moment.

Chocolate Banana Bread with Masala

adapted from Cafe @ Home - Julie Le Clerc

• 150 gms butter
• 3/4 cup caster (superfine) sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 T milk
• 2 ripe bananas thickly sliced - not mashed
• 1 cup of self raising flour
• 1 tspn tea masala
• 1 tspn baking soda
• 1/4 cup of dutch process cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup of chocolate chunks (use a quality chocolate)

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F Grease and flour a standard loaf tin or line with parchment.

With an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar together until thick and pale. Beat in the eggs, milk and sliced bananas. If you don’t have an electric mixer you can use a wooden spoon and stir with lots of oomph!

Stir in your sifted dry ingredients and then add in your chocolate chunks.

Place in the loaf tin and bake for roughly 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin a few minutes before turning out on a rack to cool enough before eating.

I love to eat this while it’s still slightly warm and the chocolate is still melty and soft. It’s a little harder to slice while it’s still warm.. but it’s oh… so… worth it. Make sure the slices are nice and thick if you are going to cut it while it’s still warm.

Apples - lovely sweet windfalls and small tart apples from trees that grace backyards and are rarely pruned, mostly forgotten until their fruit drops to the ground. Boxes and crates of rosy eating apples, piled in mountains at the farmers market on saturdays. It’s the perfect time to be buying and eating apples, now when they are at their crisp and juicy best. I never tire of eating apples in all their shapes and sizes.

I’ve had a couple of large boxes of apples given to me so I’ve been keeping my eyes open for things that use apples. Apples pair well with so many things, cinnamon, brown sugar, quince, pears, ginger, blackberries and plums.

I took a stack of cook books out of the library and was thumbing through the copy of Every Day by Bill Granger when I saw this loaf. It looked like just the thing to make over an autumn weekend. I had to adapt it somewhat for the ingredients I had on hand, but I was more than happy with the result. He suggests it toasted, and I can see how this would toast well. Today we had it still slightly warm from the oven as part of a lunch to meet Ryan’s gorgeous new girlfriend.

A simple loaf to make with homey flavours of cinnamon and honey as a background to the fruit, there is oatmeal in the loaf - which honestly you would never know was there, except that it adds a moistness to it. I love oatmeal in baked goods. This is fast to make and smells amazing when it cooks.

Walnut, Cherry & Apple Quickbread

• 1/2 cup of rolled oats
• 300 mls/10 1/2 fl oz milk
• 2 cups self raising flour
• 1 tspn baking powder
• 1/4 cup of dried or glace cherries chopped
• 1 large apple peeled and finely diced
• 1/2 cup of sultanas
• 1/3 cup of soft brown sugar (plus extra for the top)
• 1 tspn cinnamon (plus extra for the top)
• 3 Tbspns honey
• 1 egg
• 3 Tblspns of roughly chopped walnuts plus extra 2 Tblspns for the top.

Place the oats in a bowl with the milk, leave to soak while you prepare the other ingredients.

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and line a 1 kg (2 lbs) loaf tin with baking paper

Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a bowl and whisk together to mix.

Add into the bowl with the oats - the cherries, walnuts, honey, brown sugar, apple, sultanas and egg whisk together to mix well and then add to the dry ingredients.

Stir together well to form quite a wet mix and pour into the loaf tin.

Sprinkle the remaining walnuts over the top and a little brown sugar and cinnamon.

Bake the loaf for 45-50 minutes until golden brown on top and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin before removing carefully to finish cooling on a wire rack.

This loaf can be toasted and served with ricotta or yoghurt and honey, or sliced and spread with butter.

When you slice into the loaf you are greeted with the warm scent of cinnamon, the top of the loaf is slightly crunchy and caramelised.

Although it’s autumn here I can imagine this loaf being tucked into a basket for a picnic, it would transport well I think.

While those of you in the northern hemisphere are watching blossoms on trees and daffodils poke their heads out of the ground, here in the southern hemisphere the earth is entering it’s sleep.

Leaves are falling from trees

Flowers changing from vibrant shades to greens and browns.

The view out my window in the morning shrouded in mist.

Kererū coming close to the house, close enough to touch - they’re looking for the berries on the native trees close to our house.

Slippers, knitting, pinecones, hot chocolate, fruit toast, vanilla oatmeal, rustling leaves and frosty mornings - I love this time of year. There are so many people that love summer, the colder seasons - autumn and winter are the ones I wait for.

Time to knit, time to bake and fill the house with delicious kitchen scents.