4.03.2013

Healthy (and Tasty!) Banana Bread Recipe

I have to admit--I'm not a huge fan of banana bread. It's not because of the banana flavor; it's the texture. Growing up, all the banana bread I got from my mom and grandma was dense and really moist. Some people love it that way, I'm sure. But not me. Dense, moist bread reminds me of the times I've accidentally left a piece of bread on a plate and let it soak in water: mushy, soggy slime. But I love zucchini bread and pumpkin bread because the versions I've had are dry enough to not bring up this association. So I decided to try to make banana bread that is less moist than what I grew up with. After searching for some recipes online, I happened upon this one: Deliciously Light Banana Oat Bread . But in the end, it had very little flavor--a flaw many healthy recipes have, I think. But I had OODLES of brown bananas cluttering up my freezer a few weeks ago, and I was feeling lazy. I didn't want to track down a recipe that was supposed to be both healthy and not too moist.  I took out this old recipe and made a few changes.  The result?  A very tasty, not too moist, bread that was gone in less than a day.  My daughter LOVED it, my husband was complimentary, and I enjoyed eating it. Hooray!


Healthy Banana Bread
(It made 2 large loaves and one small loaf for me)

Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups white all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 cup chocolate chips

5 mashed bananas
1/2 c buttermilk or sour milk
1/2 c vegetable oil
2 eggs

Directions
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Combine the first 8 ingredients in a large bowl (all the dry ingredients).  Combine the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl (all the wet ingredients).  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix just enough to moisten the dry ingredients.
Spray your bread pans with cooking spray and fill them about 2/3 full with batter.  Bake for 55 minutes or until tops are browned and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

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