The journey back to baking in a healthy way has involved a lot of learning and re-learning and has mostly been a lot of fun. And there was one baked item I could not wait to get back to ..... Banana Bread. Bananas are one fruit that I enjoy much more in a prepared form than as a fruit. Be it banana muffins, moist loaves of banana bread, banana caramel pie or just banana milkshakes, I cant have enough of this fruit as a star ingredient in some of my favourite recipes. And my love for bananas has lived through many years through this recipe for mini banana loaves. I could make a batch of these in my sleep, that is how often I made them. One batch made 8 mini loaves which I would flavour differently - some plain, some with walnuts, some with white or dark chocolate chips and that would be the perfect tea time treat for me. My favourite part would be to buy more bananas than what was needed and then as they over ripened in my kitchen, I would just make a batch of bread or muffins, so that the bananas don't go to waste!

Even in this day and age when I am trying to eat as healthy as possible, I still want to enjoy the taste of banana bread. But I no longer want it to be a unhealthy, butter and sugar loaded treat. Instead I want it to be a slice that I can eat without any guilt and serve to my family with the confidence that I am giving them something which is wholesome, satisfying and healthy at the same time. And this recipe comes quite close. I have adapted this recipe from Amy's healthy baking blog . Thanks a lot Amy for sharing this. I have tried to stay as close to the original recipe as is possible but there were some changes I made as I tried this recipe a couple of times and I finally have a recipe that works perfectly for me every time. It has an intense banana flavour, it is soft and moist and if cut into slices that are not too thick (try and get about 20-22 slices per loaf), it is just 50 calories per slice. That for me makes it a perfect treat.

I like to use over ripe bananas for this recipe. They give the best banana flavour and the sweetness that the loaf needs. I find it easier to get dried blueberries in Mumbai and hence end up using those. You can use fresh blueberries also. I will recommend doubling the amount of fresh blueberries in the recipe below.

Ingredients:

1 ¼ c whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 pinch salt

1 tbsp flavorless oil

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 medium bananas, peeled, divided into big chunks

2 tbsp plain nonfat yogurt

2 tbsp honey

1/4 cup dried blueberries or 1/2 cup fresh

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 325F/165C. Place oven rack in lower middle shelf.

2. Set aside 1 tablespoon of flour in a small bowl. In a medium bowl, sift together the remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. In a food processor bowl/mixer/blender, blend together the oil, egg, bananas, yogurt, honey and vanilla till it becomes a smooth mixture.

4. Add the above mixture to the flour mixture, and stir just until incorporated. Toss the blueberries with the 1 tablespoon flour and stir into the batter.

5. Spread the batter into a prepared loaf pan, and bake for 25-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

6. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

7. Cut into thin slices. Bread will stay in the refrigerator for a week.