Gluten free, no refined sugar, buckwheat flour, coconut oil, organic greek yoghurt…

When I said healthy, I meant it.

This isn’t a banana bread recipe with a few good ingredients pretending to be healthy…. So, if you want a pretend healthy treat, you should probably look elsewhere.

Actually no, don’t do that, if you want a pretend healthy treat check out this cheesecake, or this cake… Both delicious, and both use some healthy ingredients.

For healthy banana bread, keep reading!

This is a dense, only slightly sweet banana bread, perfect for breakfast or as a refuelling snack after a workout or run.

I topped this banana bread with a light and creamy whipped maple butter. I won’t pretend this is particularly good for you, but as pure maple syrup is a natural sweetener, it is a good alternative to sugar packed jams and other spreads. I have talked about maple butter before in this post – if you’ve read it, you will know it is not something you can whip up in a few minutes, but the effort is certainly worth it! This recipe is more of a whipped butter than a frosting, but it is still light, fluffy and incredibly tasty.

Buckwheat Banana Bread with Whipped Maple Butter

Ingredients

For the Banana Bread
3 medium bananas (300g)
3 eggs
2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
225g (1 1/2 cups) buckwheat flour
150g greek style yoghurt with honey
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp lemon juice

For the Whipped Maple Butter
275ml maple syrup
1/2 tsp oil
pinch of salt
80g butter

Method

For the Banana Bread

Preheat oven to 180°C/350° F/Gas Mark 4.

Mash the bananas, then stir in the vanilla extract and yoghurt. Separate the eggs, setting the whites aside, then whisk the yolks into the mashed banana.

If you live in a cooler climate, your coconut oil will be solid at room temperature. Partially submerge the jar (closed) in a bowl of boiling water to melt it, then add two tablespoons to the banana mixture and whisk to combine.

Combine the flour and ginger, then add the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon.

Beat the egg whites to soft peaks, then add the lemon juice and continue to beat for a further minute or so.

Fold the egg whites into the banana bread mixture one third at a time.

Pour into a loaf tin and bake for 40 minutes, or until cake skewer comes out clean.

For the Whipped Maple Butter

Place a large mixing bowl in an ice bath, then heat the maple syrup, oil and salt in a saucepan. Once bubbling, reduce heat to medium and continue to simmer until syrup reaches 235° F.

Pour the syrup into the bowl sitting in the ice bath and allow the temperature to drop to 100° F.

Get comfortable, and start stirring the syrup with a wooden spoon – you’ll be going for around thirty minutes. Eventually, the syrup will go from sticky and opaque to silky and matte. It will likely harden after sitting, and will become somewhat crumbly and powdery – this is fine.

If your maple butter has hardened to this crumbly, powdery type substance, place it in the microwave for thirty seconds. Add 20g of butter while the maple butter and stir gently until smooth. Allow to cool, then beat in the remaining 60g of butter until light and fluffy.

Spoon large amounts onto your healthy banana bread, or just eat it straight from the jar. It’s bad (for your health, in large quantities) but oh, it’s good!

Enjoy… x