Healthy Banana Bread

Posted by Claire:

My grandpa is crazy about bananas. He eats bananas everyday because he believes that they're the healthiest, most nutritious fruit ever (this belief rooted from the fact that his own grandpa lived well over a hundred and ate bananas everyday). So it didn't take long into this whole baking-twice-a-week regiment that I decided on baking banana bread. On top of that, I'm on a detox diet right now, so most of the ingredients used in baking this banana bread are healthy substitutes of the usual. And millet (what is commonly known as bird food but is really just healthy grains) was added for a slight crunch.

Unfortunately, they didn't turn out so well. The insides were too moist. Kj even convinced me to bake it again and not give up, but the second time was only slightly better. It was some comfort that the banana bread was really healthy though, so I could have it guilt-free :-)

Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Ingredients

1 large egg

1/3 cup virgin coconut oil, warmed until it liquefies, or olive oil

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1/4 to 1/3 cup maple syrup (less for less sweetness, of course)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Pinch of ground cloves

Salt

1 1/2 cups white whole-wheat flour (or flour mixture of your choice, see Note up top)

1/4 cup uncooked millet

Procedure

1.Preheat your oven to 176°C and butter a loaf pan.

2.In the bottom of a large bowl, mash bananas with a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon until virtually smooth but a few tiny lumps remain.

3. Whisk in egg, then oil, brown sugar, syrup and vanilla extract.

4. Sprinkle baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves over mixture and stir until combined. Stir in flour until just combined, then millet.

5. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Cool loaf in pan on rack.

My advice is to only bake this is you really want a healthy snack or breakfast bread to put over your tea in the morning. I shared this banana bread with some people and there were some who actually enjoyed it! So it's all up to personal preference I guess. Not all bakes can be successful so I think I'm pretty contented with this already! :-)

Love,

Claire