Bana-na-na-na-na

I would be lying if I said that I buy bananas because I love bananas. The truth is that I buy bananas because I love banana bread, and my darling daughter LOVES [as she calls them] na-na-na-nas. It was about 7:30 last night when Lyla stated pointing to the kitchen with her perfectly chubby little finger asking for na-na-na-nas but unfortunately for the baby girl I was not willing to give her a messy, over-ripe, mushy banana so I tried some other snacks. Cheerios? No no no!, Apple? NO NO NO! and the pointing continued. So of course being the tough-love mother that I am, I gave in after two attempts at other snacks. There were 2 bananas on the counter, I picked one and peeled it only to have it shoved away with that same perfect, chubby little hand and pointing to the OTHER banana she yells, NA NA NA NA. Sooooo of course, I peel the other banana, she smiles, takes one bite and is done with it. Satisfied at last. What to do? Well, it would be wasteful to throw the two, enormous peeled bananas away, thus we make banana bread. 

My recipe for *not-too-sweet* banana bread is simple, requires no mixer and comes out of the oven fluffy, moist and pretty damn scrumptious. One trick that I learned is to ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYS pre-heat the oven. It is super important because I use "magic baking powder" in my banana bread recipe and as soon as the dry ingredients are mixed with the wet ingredients the "magic baking powder" starts to activate and requires heat almost immediately or else your banana bread will end up very heavy and dense rather than light and fluffy. 

My second trick is using my home-made apple sauce {of course you can use store bought but I prefer the chunks of apple}.--recipe for apple-sauce to come-- Most banana bread recipes will call for 2 cups of mashed bananas but I use 1 cup of mashed bananas and 1 cup of apple sauce. This seems to cut the sweetness a bit and adds a little bit more moisture {please do not ever use uncooked apples: it will be a watery mess}.

And my final trick is using...dun dun dun...Greek yoghurt. I use plain 2% Oikos Greek Yoghurt in so many recipes, but I especially love it for baking. It has about 18g of protein for 3/4 of a cup and is a great replacement for sour cream.

Here is the recipe:

2 large eggs (room temperature is best, but not necessary)

1/3 c. butter (room temperature)

1 c. brown sugar

1/3 c. Greek yoghurt

1 c. mashed bananas (about 2 large ripe bananas)

1 c. unsweetened apple sauce

2 c. whole wheat flour (gluten-free, spelt or oat flour all work great too)

1 tsp. magic baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon or nutmeg 

any add-ins are welcome! try chocolate chips, carob chips, flax seeds or unsweetened coconut!

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Line loaf pan with parchment or cooking spray (I prefer parchment, its less messy and easier to take the bread out when its done)
3. In a large mixing bowl cream brown sugar and butter together, add 1 egg at a time mixing completely, add yoghurt, mashed bananas and apple sauce
4. In a smaller bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon or nutmeg
5. Slowly, add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, folding together, not mixing
6. Fold in any add-ins
7. Pour mixture into loaf pan and bake for 55-60 minutes; after 30 minutes, lower the temperature of the oven to 325 and cover the bread loosly with tinfoil.

VOILA! Banana bread! Enjoy!

Be kind, compassionate and happy.

tanya.