Maple Banana Bread

Have you been watching the Olympics?! I have watched them almost everyday! My nights are going to be so anticlimactic when they are over. What else is supposed to get me through the homework? I don't know about you, but whenever the Olympics come around, I get kind of jealous of the athletes, especially the teenagers! They must have superhuman abilities because when I was their age, I couldn't even walk down a hallway without falling down...I still can't.

Aside from the Olympics making me wish I was more coordinated and athletic, they also make me want to get out, exercise and eat healthier. This motivation will probably last until closing ceremonies on Sunday and then I will be back to my lazy old self. If you're like me in this regard, then do I have a "healthy" recipe for you! This banana bread has no sugar and no butter! There is a bit of whole wheat flour to get your whole grains in! Now this banana bread is super soft thanks to a technique I discovered in this recipe, the bananas are pureed in the food processor instead of mashing by hand. I then continued to make the recipe in the food processor to limit the number of dishes and I could not have been happier with the result!

Maple Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1 and ¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour

½ cup all-purpose flour

1 and ½ teaspoons baking powder

¾ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 and ¼ cup pureed bananas (about 2 and 2/3 bananas)

2 eggs

½ cup canola oil

½ cup maple syrup

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray standard loaf pan with non-stick spray.

2.     In a medium bowl, stir together whole wheat pastry flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon, set aside.

3.     In the bowl of a large food processor, combine pureed bananas and eggs, processing until just combined. Scrap down bowl as needed. With the food processor running, slowly stream in oil through chute. Do the same with the maple syrup.

4.     Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, folding to combine. Stir vigorously for 20 seconds to combine. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes then reduce temperature to 350 degrees F, baking for another 20- 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes in pan on wire rack, then remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.

Recipe Adapted From Coconut Oil and Honey Pumpkin Bread, Which Was Adapted From The Flour Sack