HELLO PALS exam season is over and I am BACK IN ACTION. Hannah has been making cookies for the past few weeks to keep me going the perfect angel that she is but other than that the serious baked good shortage has seen me eating clementines and 100 g bars of dark chocolate - that my friends constitutes a balanced diet - however I did find the time to whip up a batch of coconut banana bread mini loaves which are fat free and pretty damn healthy (for Hippopotamousse ;) )
I'm going to apologise now for the really crappy photos - time is something I have not had much of!!
I have eaten some really heavy banana breads in the past but this recipe makes the lightest fluffiest banana loaves with.. wait for it.. an actual real life crumb :o !!! The coconut and banana flavours balance each other out perfectly, neither one shoving the other out the way, which is grrrrr8 stuff if you ask coconut AND banana lover over here (I feel a really cracking waffle idea coming along...).
me + revision - sustenance = failure so these little loaves of goodness were needed. Really needed. As well as wanting something moreish and tasty and a little more summery tasting to transport me out of dreary Liverpool for all of the five seconds it took me to munch my way through one of these, I wanted them to have some sort of nutritional value and put an end to my revision munchies - consuming 100 g of dark chocolate in one go three days in a row ain't good for anyone.
The addition of wholegrain spelt and oats ensured the loaves were filling and the zero, I repeat ZERO requirement for butter/oil because of the 'nanas and coconut milk meant I didn't feel all bloated and lethargic and blergh after eating them. Win win, no? Yes. Very much so. Especially when they're so delicious that one could quite happily eat the whole batch in one sitting (what is it with me wanting to eat all the food all at once at the minute?!). However, should you decide you want to be a bit naughty, chocolate chips would be a fantastic addition, although not necessary as the loaves are already satisfyingly sweet without being overwhelmingly saccharine. They also make seriously fab train/travel snacks leaving absolutely no need for a last minute eat natural bar panic buy gettttttin - we had them the other day on a trip to London and I can 100% confirm that they were way better than the cookies we bought at the station.
Ingredients
125 ml coconut milk
1 large free-range egg
1/2 cup soft light brown sugar
1 pretty sizeable tbsp honey
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup wholegrain spelt flour
1/2 cup quick cook oats
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 medium-large bananas, mashed
Directions
Pre heat oven to 180 degrees C. Cream together the coconut milk, egg, sugar, honey, salt and cinnamon. Throw in the flours, oats and baking powder and mix until just combined. Stir in the mashed banana and spoon into a mini loaf pan (makes 6) or muffin cases (makes approx 8) and bake for 30 - 35 minutes.
These look lovely and moist (without oil or butter, you say?). I was wondering if they have a coconutty flavor though? I am not the biggest fan of coconut flavor though I still use small amounts in things (a lot of the time I found the flavor cooks out and I was wondering if this was one of those times)!
ReplyDeleteI also really enjoy reading your blog and perhaps will one day also stop studying all the time so I can bake again! Your lemon marzipans bun/rolls have been calling to me!
Yep! no oil, no butter!!! Well I find that whenever I pair coconut and banana they kinda bring each other out, but the coconut is definitely not over powering and if i had to pick i'd still say banana was the dominant flavour, to make the banana more pronounced and lessen the coconut flavour you could add some banana flavouring and some choc chips maybe! Or more cinnamon so it's more like spiced banana bread!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to hear that, you have made me smile! Thank you :) Yeyy! I hope that day comes! x
Lady!!! Your blog is amazing! A few of my favourite things rolled into one - baking, beautiful photography with a sprinkle of good humour x
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Steph sorry it's taken a while to reply!! Aw thank you thank you thank you, you're the sweetest! x
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