Healthy Banana Bread from Chocolate Covered Katie
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| Apologies for the terrible picture(although get used to it), it's more for documentation purposes as opposed to aesthetics. |
We had seven bananas to use up in my house today, so I decided to put four of them in this banana bread. I've had my eye on this recipe for a while, as I've been curious about baking healthier recipes with less sugar and oil.
This turned out really well, it came out moist and soft and the flavour was distinctly banana. I did make slight changes though, which I don't think eliminates the integrity of the recipe, but rather highlights how versatile it is.
Chocolate Covered Katie's recipes are pretty distinct from other food blogs as she always offers different ingredients to substitute in the recipe, if you don't happen to have the particular ingredient on hand, or if you'd prefer to use another. You can already see that below. In this recipe, I used white flour, omitted the salt (in a small effort to make it healthier), added the cinnamon, used regular Greek yogurt, used maple syrup, omitted the extra 2 tbsp of sweetener/sugar, and used half milk half oil. The omission of the sugar made it less sweet, but still sweet enough to enjoy. It turned into more of a breakfast muffin than a dessert one, which I appreciated, but I feel the amount is so low you probably wouldn't get that much increased sweetness from adding it.
As you can see from the photo I actually made 12 muffins with this recipe, as opposed to a loaf, and covered half of the muffins with chocolate chips. I forgot to press the chocolate chips down, so they didn't quite stick to the banana bread as well as I wanted, and left a bit of a porcupine-esque finish. I also altered the cooking temperature for the muffins. I wanted to try to get a tall dome shape from these muffins (which I did, and am still ecstatic about), and to do so I baked it at 425°F for 5 minutes, and then lowered it to 400°F and baked it for 10-15 more minutes. I think this technique works for most muffin recipes, and I would highly recommend doing it if you really want the high domed look.
I think I'll make this recipe again, and next time I will experiment with omitting the maple syrup altogether, and increasing the amount of banana to 2 cups. I would also increase the amount of cinnamon as I couldn't really taste it.
Just as an added tip for every baking adventure, always set your timer a couple minutes lower than what the recipe states to avoid overbaking. You can always add more time if need be, but you can never take it back.
INGREDIENTS
2 cups white, spelt, or oat flour (240g)
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon, optional
1 1/2 cup mashed, overripe banana (360g)
1/2 cup yogurt, such as daiya vegan
1/2 cup pure maple syrup, honey, or agave
1/16 tsp uncut stevia or 2 tbsp any sweetener of choice
1/3 cup oil OR milk of choice
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips, optional
INSTRUCTIONS
*Non-Greek yogurts work as well; use only the thick portion, draining any watery portion of the yogurt.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan, or line with parchment. Set aside. Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Whisk liquid ingredients in a separate bowl. Pour wet into dry, and stir to form a batter. Smooth into the prepared pan. If desired, press chocolate chips into the top. Bake on the center rack 30 minutes, then do not open the oven door but turn off the heat and let sit in the closed oven 10 additional minutes. If your bread is still undercooked at this time, simply turn the oven back on and continue baking—checking every 5 minutes–until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. Let cool completely. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Taste and texture are much better the second day (and even better the third day as it gets sweeter). Leftovers can be sliced and frozen for up to a month.
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