Banana Bread is one of my all-time favourite treats – I say ‘treats’, this recipe allows you to enjoy it guilt-free!! There is absolutely no need for added sugar as extra ripe bananas taste very sweet anyway! And if you wish to naturally sweeten the mix a little more, you can add honey. It’s a winner with the kids too.
By substituting regular flour for almond meal/ground almonds, you present a gluten free ingredient that gives a lighter, tastier (in my opinion) end product. So let’s get to it…
- Serves: 4
- Preparation time: 10mins
- Cooking time: 1hour 30mins
Ingredients
- 3 very ripe, mashed bananas (black skin is a good indicator or ripeness!)
- 2 cups (approx. 150grams) almond meal (ground almonds)
- 2 small eggs
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Optional Extras
- ½ to 1 cup walnut halves
- ½ to 1 cup dark choc chips/pieces
- ½ cup raisins
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons chia seeds
- 2 tablespoons natural honey
Preparation
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (gas mark 4), or use the ‘baking oven’ on your AGA.
- Combine the mashed bananas, eggs and almond meal in a bowl. Gently fold together.
- Add the baking powder, vanilla essence, nutmeg and salt and continue gently mixing. The consistency should be that of thick yoghurt. Experiment until you get the right consistency – it’s all part of the fun!
- Now add your delicious extras: Walnuts/dark choc chips/raisins/honey/chia seeds – whatever you’ve chosen to create your own favourite recipe! My musts are walnuts, dark choc chips and chia seeds if I can get them!
- Grease a 5”x10” (or similar) loaf tin – remember to grease up the sides!
- Poor your mix into the tin and even out. I like to decorate the top with a sprinkle of walnuts.
- Now for the tricky part – many banana bread bakers have fallen at this hurdle due to misinformed baking temperature and times. What I’d say is bake for approx. 45 minutes before the first check. If, after this time, the mixture is still gooey, increase the temperature slightly or move to a higher shelf in your oven (or to the ‘roasting oven’ in your AGA). If you do this though I’d keep a close eye on it and remember you can always cover with foil to avoid burning the top!
- Keep checking at regular intervals until the mixture is cooked – stick a knife in the middle of the loaf, if it comes out clean it’s done! The top should be a nice brown colour.
- Carefully remove out of the tin with a flat utensil – it should just lift out if the tin was greased! Enjoy with a drizzle of honey or a spread of butter – makes for a scrumptious afternoon treat!
