I don’t know about you, but in our house bananas are a daily snack. There’s a fine balance to a constant supply of bananas. If you already have a few that will be eaten but you are at the store, it’s important to buy a greener bunch that will be ripe in the next two days. But if you’re all out, then you need to get the good stuff that’s ready to eat now. Of course, in either of these cases, you could end up not finishing the bunch before it gets too many brown spots on it and your kitchen has a faint smell of banana. At this point, it’s time for banana bread.
We come across these straggler bananas that don’t make it through the full week quite a lot. There’s only so many times, though, that you can make some seriously decadent banana bread recipes before feeling the balance between actual fruit and fruit in baked goods is off. That’s when this recipe comes in to save the day. It cuts way back on the fat content and the whole wheat flour doesn’t hurt the health factor either. Thankfully taste does not get sacrificed here.
Low-Fat Banana Bread
adapted from Bon Appetit, 1997 via Epicurious
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2-3 very ripe bananas, smashed
- 1/3 cup milk (I used 1%)
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 c. whole wheat flour
- 3/4 c. all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
Preheat the oven to 350°F and lightly grease a loaf pan. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until thickened. Add the bananas, milk, oil, and vanilla and mix. In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet (I usually add the dry in three separate stages), stirring the batter with each addition. Transfer the batter to the loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes until the top is golden and a fork or toothpick tester comes out clean. If you are making muffins, bake for about 25 minutes test. Mini muffins should take closer to 18 minutes. Larger muffins might take as long as 35. It all depends on how you want to eat your banana treat!
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