I have this thing about banana bread and food blogs. Since before I set up my little therapy corner of the world-wide web here, I used to mentally joke that EVERY single blogger out there that has a banana bread entry. It was just a thing with me and I swore that I would never do a banana bread post.
But hey, I swore that I wouldn’t do plenty of things over the past 6 years that I have done. Here’s a list:
*denotes the reality of the situation
- No Bubas/Childers in our bed. *there is a path worn from the various bedrooms into ours and there are child size indentations in our mattress such is the frequency of the visits. In fact I would go as far as to say that if there was sleep to be had on the stairs/in the bathroom/by gently laying a sleeping lion cub into the bed with them…..well I’d just go with it at this stage!
- No food unless sitting at the table *our sofa in the living/kitchen area would provide the keenest of micro-biologists hours of fun collecting cultures & swabs of all the living organisms feasting on the crumbs left unnoticed within.
- No money will ever be put into those Peppa Pig cars and the like at the local shopping centre *excuse me? How fast can you change this tenner into 5 €2 coins? You see I need to buy myself some sanity.
He’s knows his stuff alright…this Dalai Lama chap! I’m really just being effective – heard it from the horse’s mouth!
So what the hell……..Here’s my favourite healthy banana bread – once again from the Hemsley Hemsley book but I just put my usual twist on it by sneaking in some of what I like.
Ingredients
3 overly ripe bananas
30g butter
3 tbsp Maple syrup (or to taste – I like 3!)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp lemon juice
220g ground almonds
3 eggs
30g Flax (I use Linwoods & they have such a variety – this one is the goji berry and nut mix one)
Optional Extras – I use one of the following:
50g raisins (Highly recommend)
50g dark choice chips
50g Pecan nuts
Method:
- Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees and line a loaf tin.
- Mix banana & butter in mixer.
- Add the rest of the ingredients apart from my optional extras and mix well.
- Stir in optional extras (or mix slowly – I use my kitchen aid and the slow setting on this is perfect)
- Sprinkle some more flax on top.
- Bake for 1 – 1 and 1/4 hours.
- Slice and freeze or store in fridge in sealed container – bear in mind there is no refined sugar in this to preserve it.
The lazy in me just bungs it all in together – plus there is no gluten in it so you can’t really over beat it. Over mixing flour can lead to tough/chewy bakes!
This is lovely eaten warm or toasted. I butter mine with almond butter and jam sometimes when it’s toasted.
Yours, firmly resolving that she will NEVER give in to the “I want a puppy” demands,
Cli xx
