Baking

Bananas have some great qualities – they are high in Potassium, which helps regulate normal blood pressure, Magnesium for our muscles, Fibre, Vitamin C and Vitamin B6, which help to make red blood cells and antibodies to help us fight infections. Any of the B vitamins are known as ‘water soluble’ which means we don’t store them in our bodies and so we must keep replenishing them from our diet each day. Bananas are also a source of carbohydrates. If you are trying to manage Diabetes, you do have to take into consideration the impact they may have on your blood sugar levels.

Each time a banana goes bad in the fruit bowl or I find one a little squished and uneaten in a lunch box, it’s thrown in the freezer.

Once there is a small stash and I am craving my freezer space back, Banana Bread is made. It’s perfect straight out of the oven for afternoon tea or sliced, wrapped and frozen for school lunch boxes.

The following recipes are two of my favourites. Truth be told, I have many more (Sticky Date & Banana, Banana & Choc Chip etc), but I thought I would start with these two. They are quite different, but loved nonetheless.

The Banana & Raspberry Bread can be made by anyone. It’s a ‘throw it all in the bowl and stir’ batter and it never fails. Apart from being Dairy free, it’s full of all the normal things that make Banana Bread look and taste good – fat and sugar.

The Banana & Coconut Bread, from one of my favourite Chef’s, Teresa Cutter (aka The Healthy Chef), is Gluten free, Dairy Free, Grain Free and Refined sugar free. The addition of Coconut flour adds great soluble fibre and the Chia Seeds keep the loaf moist and add Omega 3’s, which are needed by the brain to function properly.

I am making more and more of this type for our every day eating and saving the Banana & Raspberry Bread for those special days.

Banana & Raspberry Bread

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon bi-carb soda
3/4 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed banana (approx 3 large size bananas)
1/2 cup rice bran oil
1/3 cup water
1 cup raspberries (if using frozen, don’t defrost first and make sure they are from Australia or Europe!)

Method

Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius (150 fan forced)

Combine everything, except the raspberries, in a bowl and mix till combined and smooth. Gently stir in raspberries.

Pour into a well greased and lined loaf tin and bake for approx 1 hour. If it starts to brown quickly, cover it in foil and continue cooking. Cool in tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Banana & Coconut Bread

Recipe from Teressa Cutter, thehealthychef.com

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

400gm over ripe bananas, (approx 4 medium size bananas)

6 eggs

4 fresh pitted dates

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

60ml of coconut oil

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons gluten free baking powder

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup chia seeds

Method

Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius (150 fan forced)

Combine bananas, eggs, dates, vanilla, oil, cinnamon and baking powder in a food processor and blend till smooth.

Add the coconut flour and chia seeds, mix through and then sit for 15 minutes to allow the chia seeds and coconut flour to expand.

Pour into a greased and lined loaf tin and bake for 50-55 minutes. (You can decorate the top of the loaf with flaked coconut if you like at this stage). Cover with foil if browning too quickly.

Cool in tin for 10 minutes before turning onto a wire rack.

This loaf is best stored in the fridge and slightly heated or toasted before serving (I love to top it with ricotta and honey) It freezes well too.

“Let’s eat cake…….just not every day” is a pretty good motto to live by I think. We need ‘special foods’, ‘sometimes foods’ and ‘celebration foods’ and nothing says celebration more than cake!

This recipe is celebrating the summer that we have enjoyed and what better way to farewell the season than by using the last of the fresh summer apricots?

This basic butter cake dotted with golden apricots is made entirely in a food processor. So for all of you ‘I don’t bake’ people reading this, if you have time this weekend, I encourage you to give it a go!

The recipe is from one of my favourite Australian cooks and cookbook authors, Belinda Jeffery. Her cookbook “Desserts” is one I reference and cook from often.

Ingredients

8 medium sized apricots, washed and cut into wedges

150gm castor sugar, plus 2 1/2 tablepsoons

150gm self raising flour

50gm almond meal

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs

160gm unsalted butter, softened or at room temp, cut into chunks

finely grated zest of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

icing sugar for dusting

Serve with vanilla ice-cream or whipped cream.

Method

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius (or 160 degrees for a fan forced oven)

Grease and line the base and sides of a 20cm round cake tin with baking paper.

Gently mix the apricots with 2 1/2 tablespoons of the castor sugar in a bowl and set aside.

Place the flour, almond meal and baking powder in a large food processor and whiz for 10 seconds. Tip into a bowl and set aside.

Now put the eggs and remaining castor sugar (150gm) into the food processor and whiz for 1 minute. Add the butter, whiz for 40 seconds, scraping down the side of the bowl occasionally. NOTE – it will look curdled at this stage, but that’s okay!

Add the lemon zest and vanilla and whiz briefly.

Tip the flour mixture back into the food processor, and pulse together till it’s all combined. Add the milk and whiz until you have a creamy smooth batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and using a slotted spoon, take the apricots out of their bowl and scatter them over the top of the cake.

Bake the cake for approximately 1 hour. The fruit will sink into the cake as it bakes. Test it with a skewer to make sure it’s cooked in the middle. The skewer should come out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack.

Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice-cream or cream.