Hungry for something sweet, but not really up for all the sugar? Well, we got one for you! Banana bread! Yep, bananas are a great natural sweetener. In this post, we are going to give you a healthy recipe for banana bread, and give you some background info on the main ingredient, bananas! So sit tight and read on.
Bananas
Have you ever thought about those yellow bendy fruits that we all eat all over the world, no? Well, bananas have a great long history, but that is another post. However thanks to many of the companies that still exist today we are still able to enjoy them, nearly where ever we go. The banana that we eat most of today is actually a variety called “Cavendish“. Now there are hundreds of varieties out there but the banana industry has optimized the export for this particular one. It’s sweet tasty and healthy.
Monoculture
Unfortunately, the industry is now facing a banana disease that is already a treat to most of the banana plantations existing today. However, the disease has still not reached Latin America. But expert’s say that it will not be long before it reaches that part of the world as well. Now there are GMO solutions to the problem. But we all know the dispute in this area.
Banana employees wages
Unfortunately, the banana industry has been reputable for not paying fair wages. To us consumers, this means lower-priced products, which is not necessarily a good thing. The cooperations controlling the industry are the ones left with the profit, and local farmers are the ones paying the price. So do consider paying those extra few bucks for the fair trade bananas.
Cotton and bananas, similarities?
Yes, there is actually a similarity between these two products. Both require a large amount of pesticide to grow. Now cotton is definitely on top, but bananas also have a strong second place. So please consider buying organic bananas as well. Your choice matter.
Back to healthy banana bread
Now we’re sure many of you already had banana bread and so have we. The super-smooth spongy texture is both sweet and pleasing. But a lot of the recipes out there contains large amounts of white low glycemic flour, sugar and also fat. So how can we make banana bread healthier?
Well for starters lets take out the fat! For every gram of fat, there are usually about nine calories. That’s over double the amount of calories compared to carbs or protein. Next we need to take out the sugar, and last but not least the high glycemic flour. So what are we left with and how can we keep the same sweet and spongy texture? Well, we replace most of the wheat flour with oat flour. Oats have the capability to soak up a lot of water and will leave us with the texture we are looking for. Next, we need to address the fat and sugar. Well, how can we get the creaminess from the fat? Bananas! And what about sweetness? Again more bananas! A normal banana bread usually contains 3 to 4 bananas, we usually go for 5!
Spices
Now we are still left with a loaf of super banana bread. But hey we at good.cooking didn’t stop there. We thought, what if we add some of the spices we use for spiced pound cake. Well, let me tell you. This works really well, and what you are left with is a mouth-filling spongy spicy-sweet banana bread, that really evoke the senses. And best of all, it is good for you!
Healthy but!
Now before we get to the recipe we just want to leave a small note about amounts. Now, this is a loaf of healthy banana bread. It has a lot of good calories in it. But that does not mean you can eat as much of it as you want. Calories are still calories. If you eat more than you expend in a day, you will gain weight. So enjoy, but have a plan.
Baking
Now one of the key things about making banana bread is to know your oven. The normal household oven can vary quite a bit in temperature. Therefore it is important to take this into account when baking. With our oven, we usually hit the sweet spot at 180 degrees Celsius for 53 minutes. This is important because it will make the difference between too spongy or too dry. Off course you can regulate this according to what you prefer. We rather go for a banana bread that is a bit on the juicer side.
Healthy Banana bread
Equipment
- Mixing bowl
- blender or handheld mixer
- Kitchen scale
- loaf tin
- measure cup
- teaspoon
- tablespoon
Ingredients
- 6 Bananas (ripe)
- 3 large Eggs
- 150 gr Oat flour
- 50 gr Spelt Flour
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- 1 tsp Bicarbonate
- 1 tbsp Cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp Cinnamon (Whole)
- 1 tbsp Cloves (whole)
- 3 tbsp Green cardamon (Whole)
Instructions
- Set the oven to 180 degrees celsius
- Add cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves to a hot pan, and fry for 30 seconds to one minute. Just enough for the spices to start steaming of beautiful aromas.
- Add spices to a mortar and bash away until you get a fine grind
- Cut one banana in half (through the long side) remove the peel and set aside
- Add eggs, five peeled bananas, oat and spelt flour to the mixer
- Lightly grease baking tin
- Add spices, baking powder, cocoa powder and bicarbonate to the blender and mix for one minute, or until you have a nice even batter
- Pour the batter into the tin
- Place the split banana on top
- Bake the banana bread for 52 minutes
- Leave the banana bread to cool in the tin before gently removing it
We decided to garnish this banana bread with some light banana cream cheese and a banana nice cream. Let us know in the comments below if you would like us to post the recipe. And as always remember to share, like and comment on social media. And if you haven’t already tried our oat waffles you should check those out as well.
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