So proud of myself at how quickly I am blogging this recipe. I mean, I just made the bread last evening, so this is like a miracle considering I post recipes only when I am at the verge of forgetting what/how I made whatever it is that I made.
If you are following me on Instagram, you must be knowing that this is something I made after seeing Archana put a picture of her banana bread earlier today.
We started our BLW journey with apples and bananas and a few months later, A just won’t eat bananas. Not in any form except nice cream.
And my husband isn’t much of a fruit eater. More often than not, I end up having ripe bananas in the house because I can’t really buy just one, can I?
Oh, and after months, A picked a banana all by himself and asked me to peel it for him last week and he has been eating them again now.
Anyway, I had these super large Filipino bananas from Philippines lying around which I wanted to use up and I was almost inclining towards making some nice cream when I saw this post from Arch.
So, I modified the recipe she shared to make it vegan and baby/toddler friendly and still ended up with an amazing loaf of ‘nana bread.
Here’s what you need:
- 2 ripe large sized bananas
- 3/4 cup dates (soaked in warm water for softening and pitted)
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup water or lesser (adjust according to consistency)
- 1 tsp vanilla essence (the alcohol free one)
- Chopped walnuts – about 5-6 (optional but highly recommend it)
- 1 tbs flaxseed powder (optional)
- 1 tsp cashew powder (optional)
Method:
Preheat oven to 180*C. Grease and line a loaf tin and set aside.
Blend the bananas and soaked dates together and transfer it to a large mixing bowl.
Add the coconut oil, vanilla essence and water to this and mix well.
Add the flour to this in batches and fold well.
Leave it to rest for about five minutes.
Pour the batter into the greased tray, tap to even the surface. Top it with chopped walnuts, cashew powder and the flax seed powder and bake till a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Mine took about 40 minutes.
Once done, leave it to cool on a wire rack for at least an hour before slicing.
Like any other banana bread recipe, this tastes better the next day. I just had a slice (or two) for breakfast. 😉
Notes:
- The original recipe called for 1/4 cup powdered jaggery and 1/2 cup dates. I replaced the jaggery with dates too.
- Dates is okay for babies after 8 months occasionally. That is when I started offering it for A.
- You can skip the nuts and make this nut free if you aren’t sure if your baby is allergic to nuts or if your baby is too small. Or you can coarsely powder them and use. Whatever works.
- I also the skipped the drinking chocolate the recipe called for.
- UPDATE: 31-07-2017: I tried skipping the dates, added half an extra banana and 3 tbs coconut sugar and the result was still just as good. You can substitute coconut sugar with regular sugar or brown sugar or jaggery.
And So We Adult 