A moist and tasty loaf with minimal added sugar - most of the sweetness comes from the fruit. Also a great way to use those over-ripe bananas...

I do love a bit of home baking. There's nothing like walking into a house filled with the smell of something delicious baking in the oven... But I do get a little sick of making the same few muffin recipes to use up those bananas that just get a bit too soft to slice on my morning cereal or toast, or eat as a snack.
This loaf is not dominated by the flavour of the banana, due to the addition of a little coconut and some berries, but using the banana means that it needs less added sugar to taste sweet enough. There's also a bit of grated apple in there, adding its own natural sugar. I tried making this loaf the first time with less honey and grated zucchini instead of apple, but it wasn't quite right, so here is version two (much tastier):
Banana berry coconut loaf
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1 cup white flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup coconut thread
grated zest from one lemon
1 cup frozen berries of your choice (I used raspberries here)
1/2 cup plain yoghurt
1/2 cup canola oil (I used "The Good Oil" New Zealand-grown rapeseed oil)
2 eggs, beaten
2 bananas, mashed with a fork
1 teaspoon vanilla bean extract (or vanilla essence if you don't have it)
1/2 cup grated apple, skin on (about 3/4 of an apple, I ate the rest while I baked!)
1/4 cup runny honey (I like the honeydew for flavour, but use your favourite)
Heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius, fan bake.
Line a loaf tin with baking paper.
In a large bowl, mix together rolled oats, sifted flours and baking powder, coconut thread and lemon zest. Add frozen berries and mix.
In another bowl, combine yoghurt, oil, eggs, bananas, vanilla and grated apple. Drizzle the runny honey into this mixture while stirring. Fold the wet mix into the dry mix gently, until just combined.
Pour the mixture into the loaf tin, and smooth the top.
Bake the loaf for approximately one hour, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean. It should be a lovely golden colour on the top.
Let the loaf cool in the tin for ten minutes before turning out onto a wire rack - it will need to cool completely before slicing.
Enjoy!
Comments