A healthy take on the classic tea time banana bread - for a guilt free afternoon snack/breakfast.
If you are the type of person that throws away over ripe bananas – I am sorry but we can’t be friends. Over ripe bananas are meant to be peeled, mashed and turned into a gorgeous loaf of banana bread. Sometimes I think I buy bananas just to have them ripen for banana bread.
With that, let me declare – I am a massive fan of banana bread. It is something I bake when I don’t know what to bake or when the bananas are *almost* rotting or when I just want banana bread (which is very often).
I found this recipe on Pinterest, baked it several times and never been disappointed. It is the perfect texture, not too sweet, the banana flavour is just right and above all, it is not a dry crumbly loaf that makes your throat itch for water.
I keep the basic recipe same and vary the kind of flours I use (try my best to stay away from all purpose flour and refined sugar). I have used wholewheat flour once and almond flour too and both have worked very well in the recipe. I recently added tahini to it as well, even some flax meal to the batter just to sneakily get in the good stuff and it all works great. This recipe is an absolute keeper!
Ingredients -
1.5 cups wholewheat flour (almond flour works great too)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup honey
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
a pinch of nutmeg
1/2 cup plain yoghurt
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2-3 large mashed bananas
1/4 cup dark chocolate chunks (optional but trust me it is the showstopper)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Method -
In a bowl, add eggs, oil, honey and vanilla extract and whisk until thoroughly mixed. In a separate bowl, whisk the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt).
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and then add yoghurt and chocolate chunks to the mixture. Be sure not to overwork the batter, just fold the batter until well combined.
Add the batter to a parchment lined loaf tin and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for about 45-50 minutes (try not to nap during this time like I did).
Poke the cake with a toothpick right in the middle and it's done if it comes out clean and your house smells like the neighborhood bakery. Let the cake cool completely before slicing. I prefer to toast it and slather some butter for instant heaven!