Maybe not as quick & easy as you were hoping, but worth every minute, because this is, like the title says, the best banana bread ever.
No added sugar, eggs, butter or lactose.
And no bananas! Just kidding…
My banana bread contains date paste instead of sugar. Date paste is lovely and sweet, and still contains all the goodness of the fruit, like fibers and vitamins.
Instead of date paste, you can of course just take a handful of dates and chop them into little pieces.
However, date paste is super easy to make...
Take a few handfuls of dates and soak them for 30 minutes or so in hot water.
Drain most of the water. Then blend the dates, adding some hot water if needed.
Use a couple of tablespoons of the date paste for the recipe and keep what's left in a container in the freezer. It will not become too hard, so you can scoop out some paste whenever you need it. You can add date paste to a bowl of yogurt or ice-cream.
Or you can make more banana bread!
Ingredients
200 grams flour – Take any flour you like. I use a mixture of wholegrain and spelt flour.
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons Chinese 5-spice mix, cinnamon or other spices you like (I use 1tsp of cinnamon and 1tsp of garam masala)
1/2 teaspoon salt
125 ml non-dairy milk
2 large ripe bananas
1 grated apple
3 tablespoons date paste
2 tablespoons of nut butter (I use peanut butter)
A generous amount of nuts, chocolate, or whatever you fancy. I use walnuts and sometimes dark chocolate chips (Liddl does a good inexpensive dark chocolate that does not contain dairy)
Method
Mix the dry ingredients, including the nuts, in a big bowl.
Blend the bananas, apple and all other wet ingredients in a blender or mixer.
Add the blended mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well.
Add any nuts and/or chocolate chips to your liking.
Pour the batter into a baking tray, lined with baking paper.
Bake at 180°C for 30 minutes.
Then reduce heat to 160°C and bake for another 15 minutes.
Take from the oven and place on a cooling rack.
Enjoy for breakfast or whenever you feel like having something sweet, with a cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate!
Isn’t this the best banana bread ever? Let me know what you think!