I’m not a huge fan of banana bread. I’m not a fan of bananas is the main reason, but hubby loves bananas so I decided it was time to put my kitchen skills to the test to make as healthy a version as possible. You should give this one a try and let me know what you think.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour (white whole wheat is good too)
- 1 cup of quick oats
- 3/4 cup brown sugar (I measure out a scant 3/4 of a cup) *
- 3 very ripe bananas (I had 2 very ripe & one normal)
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 2 TBS ground flax seed, 6 TBS hot water, combined (this is a vegan egg substitute, you can use 2 eggs instead)
- 1/4 cup low sugar vanilla almond milk
- 2 TSPS vanilla extract
- 2 TSPS apple pie or pumpkin pie spice
- 1 TSP salt
- 1 TSP baking powder
- 1 TSP baking soda
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350º. Spray a 9×5 inch loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- Smash the bananas. You need ~1 1/2 cups
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, spice of choice, salt & baking powder & soda. Mix well. Add in the bananas, melted butter, eggs (or flax seed substitute) & vanilla extract. Mix until smooth. You can add dried fruit of your choice, nuts, whatever you like in your bread. (I used sliced almonds & currants because that’s what I had available.)
- Pour mixture into the loaf pan. Top mixture with extra oats. Bake for 45-60 minutes (mine was about 50-55)
Enjoy with some eggs or topped with yougurt.
- With the sweetness of the bananas and milk, this is a good recipe to try a baking sugar substitute if you’re trying to cut back on sugars.