Nutty Banana Bread

Sharing is Caring

When my kids were very young ‘ sharing is caring‘ was a phrase that was used quite regularly to black mail me when they wanted chocolates or such treats which I wasn’t quite ready to give. You can bet that this statement always made me give in to their demands. I have continued to practice as much as possible sharing, food, knowledge, material things,time and so on. Indeed Sharing is Caring.
As is my practice , I like to share baked recipes with colleagues at work so I can share the calories * wink * wink. I like to test out some recipes on them also before sharing with you guys online. So my Nutty Banana bread made it to work and was wiped out in minutes with the morning coffee.
Staying healthy does not mean total abstinence from baked pastries, what to do is exercise some discipline in the quantity you eat and the frequency you eat the food.In my case I even shared.
This Banana bread recipe is one that does not require any cake mixer or kneading of dough.
Even an amateur in baking can handle this one easily.
 So go ahead, get some bananas, some flour, dates and almonds. Bake, share and enjoy my Nutty Banana Bread!

Recipe
21/2 cups plain Baking Flour
1/4 cup granulated Sugar
3/4 cup melted Butter
11/2 cups mashed Banana( the sweet type)
2 Eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla Essence
3/4 cups roughly crushed Almonds
1/2 cup chopped Dates
11/2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt

Method
1, Heat oven at 350 degrees
2, Mix the almond, date, baking powder into the flour. Make sure the nuts and dates are well blended into the flour, so you enjoy both fruit and nut with every bite
Kitchen Tip: if you do not have dates you may wish to replace with black currants. The idea of using dried fruits like dates is to reduce the quantity of white sugar I use.
3, Mash the banana, melt the butter on low heat, and beat the egg.
KitchenTip:The banana I used is what is popularly called Ibo banana, this is because its mainly coming from the southeastern part of Nigeria. You can use any sweet banana but make it is overripe .
4, Pour buttered egg into banana and mix well
5, Mix sugar, vanilla and salt in the banana mixture and mix well
6, Pour wet ingredients into the flour mixture and mix lightly to incorporate all ingredients
7, Pour into a bread pan and bake for about 40 minutes. To ensure bread is baked, put a clean knife in the bread , if it comes out clean the bread is baked.
8, Allow to cool slightly, enjoy with tea or ginger drink.