Sugar-free Blueberry Banana Bread

 If you are looking for a recipe that satisfies your sweet tooth without surrendering to processed sugars, then this is the treat for you. This banana bread is processed sugar-free! And it still captivates a pleasant sugary flavour. I know one struggle that can drive me insane when being on a sugar-free diet, is not satisfying my sweet cravings. If I am not able to eat some kind of baked good, or a sugary tasting treat, then I get very irritable. 

If you do your research you will learn that you can still have that treat you’ve been craving. These guilty recipes can be recreated to be lower in fats, have no processed sugars, and yet still be so satisfying to eat. I have done the sugar free challenge multiple times and recipes like this have helped me to get through it. I hope this idea can help you as well if you are doing a similar challenge.

Ingredients

• ·         2 ripe bananas, mashed
• ·         2 eggs
• ·         ½ cup canola oil
• ·         ¼ cup of Greek yogurt
• ·         ½ tbsp. vanilla extract
• ·         1/3 cup honey
• ·         2 cups all-purpose flour
• ·         1 pinch of salt
• ·         1 tbsp. cinnamon
• ·         1 tsp baking soda
• ·         1 cup of blueberries
• ·         ½ cup chopped walnuts

Preparation

This recipe is nice and simple. Step one! Preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. We want the bread to bake evenly yet nice and slow so no section gets over-done.

Next! In one bowl combine all of your wet ingredients together (yogurt, mashed bananas, oil, vanilla, eggs and honey). In a separate bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients to ensure the baking soda, cinnamon and salt are evenly distributed throughout the flour. Now, fold the dry ingredients into the wet. I like to do this with a rubber spatula so I can easily scrape the sides of the bowl. This ensures that every ounce of wetness is evenly mixed into the dry ingredients. You will want the batter to be thick and fluffy.

Once the ingredients are combined, you can fold in your blueberries and walnuts. If you are working with frozen blueberries, you will want to defrost them before adding them to the batter. When you throw frozen blueberries directly into this dough, the ice around them will melt as the bread is baking and will create an unpleasant, soggy consistency. We definitely do not want that! Yuck!

You want your dough to come out fluffy and perfectly textured. The outside should have a slight crunch to it and the inside should be dense yet moist.

Grab a loaf tin and line it with parchment paper. You can also grease the pan with butter instead of using the paper. However, I prefer parchment because it makes it easier to pull the bread out of the tin once it is done. I always make sure I have ends sticking up on either side of the lined tin so all I have to do is carefully lift my baked bread out. But everyone has different preferences. Do whatever you like, as long as it ensures your bread will not stick to the tin.

When the oven is fully heated, bake your bread for approximately 40 to 50 minutes, or until you can stick a toothpick into the center of the dough and it comes out clean with no batter clinging to the wood. Let it cool on a cooling rack and then it will be ready to eat.

NOTE: if the top of the bread is browning quite quickly, but the inside is not completely baked, here is a little trick. Measure a piece of aluminum foil to fit on top of your loaf tin and cover the bread with the foil. This will prevent the top from burning while still allowing the dough to bake internally.

Taste Test

This bread will definitely satisfy your sweet cravings. When you bite into that beautifully dense slice, the outside will have a gorgeous thin and slightly crisp crust, while the inside will be buttery and moist. The bread will be sweet, yet fruity from the blueberries. Followed by a nutty warmth from the cinnamon and walnuts. And this is why you want to use ripe bananas. The riper the bananas are, the sweeter the bread will be!

 I also love the combination of textures. The blueberries bursting with succulent juices and the walnuts adding a comforting crunch to the bite. When you create this recipe, you will see this bread is extremely satisfying with both textures and flavours. Of course, you can add anything you want to it instead of blueberries and walnuts. This is where banana bread can be a lot of fun when experimenting with different ingredients. If you love chocolate, you can add some bitter sweet chocolate chips that are sweetened with stevia. This way it ensures the recipe remains processed sugar-free. You can also choose a different nut than walnuts, or a different fruit. You do you!

In summary, this banana bread will be a big go-to when it comes to satisfying your sweet tooth, while sticking to a healthy diet. Obviously, there are still sugars in this recipe but they are not processed sugars. Which makes for a much healthier treat and your body can process these sugars much easier than the factory made ingredients. Natural can be best when trying to eat clean. This recipe will give you the flavours you are looking for as well as the pleasure of eating a perfectly textured slice of dessert-like bread. And without any guilt!

Enjoy!