Everyone loves banana bread. It’s a wonderful weekend indulgence, especially toasted and slathered with butter. But for my last breakfast recipe in my 5 recipe Australian avocados breakfast challenge I wondered about making a healthy banana bread without butter. Namely using avocados in the place of butter.
The logic was sound, avocados are sort of buttery, but still I wasn’t quite sure how it would turn out. But I’m relieved to say, on my third attempt I have a butter and oil free as well as refined sugar free delicious, although slightly heavier and denser than normal banana bread thanks to the use of wholemeal (whole wheat) flour in place of plain flour.
The real taste test lay with my husband, Troy, as it always does, especially since my sense of taste and smell are still a little wonky as I recover from the flu from hell. After screwing up his nose when I mentioned I’d used avocado in place of butter, and the usual sugar had been replaced with coconut sugar for a healthier update, he hesitatingly took a bite of my avocado and banana bread. The scrunch in his face, in the expectation he wouldn’t like it, slowly eased away. By the third bite it had completely disappeared as he announced “If you hadn’t told me there was avocado in this and coconut sugar in place of regular sugar I wouldn’t know. It just tastes like a slightly less sweet than normal banana bread.”
And it does, and it’s beautiful toasted.
This avocado and banana bread tastes best the next day, so I suggest making it the night before and enjoying for breakfast the next morning.
Banana & Avocado Bread - refined sugar free, butter and oil free
Ingredients
- 160 g ripe but not overly so avocado, 3/4 cup
- 200 g coconut sugar 3/4 cup plus 2 tbs
- 250 g wholemeal flour 2 cups, whole wheat
- 1 tsp baking powder
- tsp ½ bicarbonate of soda
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 cup thick greek yoghurt
- 1 large overripe banana mashed, 2 small
- TOPPING:
- 1 large banana sliced, 2 small
- 2 tsp coconut sugar extra, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius (320 Fahrenheit) and grease a 23 cm x 13cm (9 x 5 inch)[amazon_link id="B00008W70I" target="_blank" ]Loaf Pan[/amazon_link].
- Place the avocado and coconut sugar into the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients except the sliced and process until well combined. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin.
- Place two rows of slices of banana along the middle of the cake until covered. Sprinkle with coconut sugar and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes or until the cake is cooked through in the middle and starts to come away from the sides of the tin. If the top of the cake is browning too quickly cover with foil.
- Cool in the tin for 30 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack [amazon_link id="B000HLU84K" target="_blank" cooling rack[/amazon_link] to cool completely.
Nutrition
Disclosure This post was sponsored by Australian Avocados. As always, all opinions are my own.
