Inthekitchen
Baking Healthy Banana Bread
It’s about time that I shared a favourite recipe. And what better than sharing one of my favourite things to eat, in its healthiest form! I have made this banana bread a number of times now, with a few different variations, which I will mention below. But the main concept comes from a recipe I found in the Detox Kitchen Bible cookbook, which is a personal fave. I have just played around with a few of the ingredients, to make it a little easier and affordable to make and really wanted to share it with you!
If you love banana bread, but prefer to cut down on the flour and sugars involved, this is going to be right up your street! The majority of the ingredients are usual cupboard fillers too, so you will probably only need to buy one or two of the required ingredients – I know that I usually have to nip out for a bag of ground almonds for this! But everything else involved is simple, affordable, and most importantly, pretty darn healthy in comparison. The loaf is so moist with a wonderful texture from the almonds and a kick of citrus from the lemon or orange zest! And by the way, my banana bread looks rather toasted in these shots – trust me it just tasted caramelised and crispier. So so delicious!
I really hope you enjoy!
Ingredients
Everything you need to make a medium sized loaf of banana bread that will cut into around 8 slices. Those ingredients with an asterix signify ways you can make slight alterations, which I will mention within the recipe steps.
YOU WILL NEED
1 Medium Loaf Tin
Large Mixing Bowl
Baking Parchment
3 large Bananas
50g Honey
200g Almonds *
50g Coconut Oil
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
Pinch of Ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
Grated zest of 1/2 orange *
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
4 Eggs
3 tbsp Dessicated Coconut
Baking Steps
1. Preheat the oven to 200°/fan 180°/gas 6 and line a medium sized loaf tin with baking parchment.
2. Use a large bowl for the mixing of the ingredients. Peel and slice the bananas, and using a fork, mash to a paste.
3. Add the honey, coconut oil, nutmeg, cinnamon, bicarbonate of soda, vanilla extract and orange zest. If you’re more of a lemon lover, substitute the orange peel for the same amount of lemon zest. Both taste delicious depending on which you prefer more!
4. Mix everything well together with a wooden spoon before adding the eggs and mixing.
5. Mix in the ground almonds. 200g is the usual amount, but on one occasion, I used only 100g so there would be less almond content. If you wish to do this, you will find you need to cook the loaf for around 10-15 minutes more, but the mixture is just as delicious and not quite as dense!
6. Spoon the mixture into the lined loaf tin.
7. At this point you can also sprinkle the dessicated coconut over the top of the mixture, for a crispy, coconut topping.
8. Bake in the oven for around 50 minutes or until you can insert a skewer into the centre of the loaf and it comes out dry. Remove from the oven at this point and allow to cool in the tin for 20 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
9. If you don’t eat the bread all in one go like me and Alex do, you can keep it inside an air tight container in the fridge for 5 days!
Bon Appétit!
