Nuts may be a classic, but I prefer the chocolate version on the right.
I don’t know about you, but when I see the words “whole wheat” I immediately think of two words: healthy and blech. (Does “blech” count as a word?) I promise you that this recipe doesn’t taste like some sort of healthy food. It’s a modification of this one that I found on allrecipes.
This is enough for a double batch. Why, you ask? Why not? It’s no more work than a single batch and freezes well.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 cup honey
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 eggs
- 2-3 cups mashed overripe bananas
- 3.5 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup hot water
- 1/2 bag semisweet chocolate morsels and/or 1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts are more classic; I prefer pecans)
Mashing bananas can be loads of fun.
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease the bottoms an sides of two loaf pans.
In a large bowl, beat oil, applesauce and honey together. Add eggs and mix well. Stir in bananas and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture, stirring gently until fully mixed.
Dissolve baking soda in hot water, stir to mix, and then add to batter. Blend in chocolate chips and/or nuts.
Spread batter into two loaf pans. Bake for 55-60 minutes, then cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
You could share with others. Or you could stash it away for yourself.
Results
The Tiny Kitchen Assistant came up with the chocolate chip idea because, as we all know, nuts are verboten in schools. “I’ll bet chocolate chips would make this banana bread extra tasty!” he declared. Boy, was he right.
We sliced each loaf into 12 pieces, layering waxed paper in between the slices and freezing in a gallon size zipper bag. The slices thaw well overnight and make a nice lunchtime add-on to his favorite yogurt. At the suggestion of Anne at Jenkintown Homegrown (my source for honey), I prefer to eat mine warmed in the toaster and slathered with peanut butter for a little extra protein.
Nutrition
I calculated approximate nutrition info per slice, assuming 12 slices per loaf.
- Calories: 206
- Fat: 6.4 g
- Fiber: 3.5
- Protein: 4.2
Tags: banana, bread, freezes well, honey, kid friendly, oven, Recipe, reheats well, whole wheat
Cooking
Fitness
Health
Love the 2×2, you have a future in consulting.
Why dissolve baking soda in H2O?
Excellent question, and the honest answer is that I don’t know. All I know is that I saw it like that on a few different recipes. And as my general rule of thumb is to get an idea, use Google to find multiple sources to give me an idea of proportions/accuracy/temp/time, I tend to go with majority rule. Coincidence or not, I got much better results with this version of the recipe than with others that mixed the baking soda in the dry ingredients.