The Banana Bread
I made many, many, many banana breads in my life and after many, many, many years of recipe trials, I almost gave up on them. They were usually too sweet, too banana-y, too fluffy, too meh. But THEN I came across a key ingredient that changed the banana-game entirely: Medjool dates. They add a caramel-ly density to the banana bread that is simply amazing. So, ladies and gents, I present you the queen of banana breads. It is boyfriend approved. If you want a healthy, sugar-free, sweet, moist, dense, beautiful banana bread, this is it.
Ingredients
- 200 g Medjool Dates
- 2 very ripe bananas + 1 for the top (optional) the more ripe, the sweeter the bread. Too yellow, let alone green bananas are a no-go.
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk, beaten
- 3/4 cup coconut flour you can use coconut flakes and shred them
- 1/4 cup ground oats or porridge. I use this porridge: https://www.mueller.de/p/bio-primo-porridge-fruechte-830895/
- 1 cup whole wheat flour I use rye, but other whole wheat will do
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 250 ml plain yoghurt Buttermilk works as well
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar or extract
- 1/3 cup coconut oil
- 1 tbsp peanut butter You want the good kind, without the added sugars. Pure peanuts!
- 1/2 cup finely chopped nuts (optional)
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Place the dates into a bowl with the buttermilk and let them soak for 10ish minutes
- Get two of the bananas and a bowl…
- …and have some fun mashing them until they look like this.
- Next, add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.
- Process the dates with the milk and peanut butter in a blender until smooth (until there are no more visible chunks of dates).
- Combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and coconut oil. Use a hand mixer on low spead until the coconut oil is well incorporated. Then add the milk and banana mixtures and continue mixing for a few minutes.
- Now preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Transfer the batter to a pan (coat the pan with cooking spray or coconut oil before). Then slice the remaining banana in half and place it on top.
- If you like, sprinkle the chopped nuts around the bananas. Let it sit for at least 10 minutes, while the oven is heating up.
- Bake for 10 minutes uncovered, then cover with foil (so it does not get too dark) and bake another 40-50 minutes. It will be a bit hard to tell when it is ready, the first times I made it, I undercooked it. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean, but the bread is quite moist either way and needs to cool down completely before eating it. It is actually best when it had time to cool in the fridge overnight.
Notes
Look at this beauty.
Now go and slap some peanut butter on it and make it even more beautiful.
Mjam! Enjoy!