Super Delicious Apple Banana Bread
I know, I know- there are countless banana bread recipes out there. And like I said in my last post, most kinds of banana bread are really awesome. It’s tough to make a bad-tasting banana bread no matter what recipe you use.
So what’s so special about this particular banana bread? The health aspect, of course! This is the healthiest banana bread I have ever come across, and as far as taste goes, it’s right up there with the more sugar-and-butter-infused banana breads. The other thing that I love about this recipe is the versatility of it. It’s a very good base that could really be elaborated on to become as fancy as you like. It is also incredibly simple and easy to put together and can be prepped in about 15 minutes. And on top of all that, it has apples in it! (Apples compete with peanut butter for my affections).
I found the original recipe in the Apple Cookbook, but I have adapted it so much from that recipe that I can definitely call it my own. So here it is! It’s the weekend now so take an hour to bake a lovely loaf of banana bread, and feel free to make any alterations that you so choose.
Ingredients
– 1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
– 2 tsp baking powder
– 1/2 tsp baking soda
– 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
– 1/2 tsp ground ginger
– 2 ripe bananas, mashed (makes about 1 cup)
– 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
– 1/2 cup Simply Egg Whites
– 1 tsp vanilla
– 1 medium apple
Method
1. Peel and core the apple and chop/dice it up into small chunks. Set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a loaf pan (about 8×4 inches) with parchment paper.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and ginger. Make a well in the center.
4. Mash the bananas in a medium-sized bowl and beat in the applesauce, egg whites, and vanilla. Pour into the center of the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
5. Fold/stir the diced apple into the batter and when well-combined, pour into the prepared pan.
6. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then turn it out of the pan onto a wire rack. Cool completely before cutting.
Nutrition Information
Serves 12
| Calories (kcal) | 97.2 | Folate (μg) | 24.9 |
| Fat (g) | 0.4 | Vitamin B6 (mg) | 0.1 |
| Protein (g) | 3.9 | Vitamin B12 (μg) | 0 |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 20.9 | Calcium (mg) | 33 |
| Sugar (g) | 4.7 | Iron (mg) | 0.9 |
| Fibre (g) | 2.9 | Sodium (mg) | 122.2 |
| Vitamin A (μg) | 0.9 | Potassium (mg) | 179.3 |
| Vitamin C (mg) | 3.2 | ||
| Vitamin D (μg) | 0 | ||
| Vitamin E (mg) | 0.2 | ||
| Thiamin (mg) | 0.1 | ||
| Riboflavin (mg) | 0.1 | ||
| Niacin (ne) | 2.3 |
Notes/Tips
– This is a very light bread and the whole wheat flour doesn’t affect it by making it heavy or dense, so you don’t have to worry about that if the idea of using only whole wheat flour scares you!
– For a more banana-intense flavor, feel free to add an extra banana. Depending on how many ripe bananas I’ve got lying around and how big they are I’ll use 2 or 3 for this recipe. I like to mash mine up with a potato masher but not make it super smooth and creamy; having some small lumps of banana adds a burst of flavor.
– If you want something a bit sweeter, you can add 1/4 cup of brown sugar (but you might want to have a little bit less applesauce if you do that). I have, however, had other taste-testers try the bread both with the sugar and without, and they enjoyed it equally both ways. The apples, applesauce, banana, and vanilla all contribute as natural sweeteners so having extra sugar really isn’t necessary. Alternatively, you could probably puree some dates and add them to the mixture for a sweeter taste as a sugar substitute (but I personally haven’t tried that yet).
– I like to use egg whites when baking just because I eat egg yolks so often, but you can easily substitute the 1/2 cup egg whites (which is the equivalent of 4 egg whites, by the way) with 2 eggs. You’ll get a few more calories and fat but loads of extra nutrients, too.
– I once tried replacing part of the flour with oats, but I wasn’t much of a fan of it and no one else was either. It seemed to take away from the essence of the banana bread! So even if you’re an oats lover, you’re probably better off just sticking with regular flour.
– The parchment paper is my new love- no need to even use non-stick spray in the pan! But if you haven’t been able to find it at the grocery store (its with the aluminum foil and such), or are too excited about this recipe to bother with going to the store to pick some up, you can easily spray the pan with non-stick spray instead.
– Have fun experimenting with this recipe! You can replace the apple chunks with chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit and so on. Or you can keep the apple and just add the extras in as well.
Pictures!
My bananas weren’t quite ripe enough in the morning, so I set them between a couple apples and the apples did their job of ripening them really quick! The chemical reactions between fruit is amazing.
Diced apples ready to be added to the batter (and my excellent potato masher for mashing up the bananas):
Freshly baked loaf!
I don’t usually wait very long before cutting myself a slice:)
Have a great weekend and if you make the bread, let me know what you think of it or if you have any suggestions! Like any recipe, its always going to be a work in progress so recommendations are more than welcome.
Sagan, that looks delicious! And I’m really hungry…..
simply eggwhites.
I used to get those all the time (think dark ages. 12 years ago?) and have somehow gotten away from buying them.
do you find you use em a lot?
Miz., who is all of the sudden rethinking this and wondering if you mean EGG SUBSTITUTE and not the powdered stuff she thought
i think the next time i get to bake, it will be to make this recipe since it has all of my faves!
Bag Lady- thanks! Banana bread always makes me hungry, too.
MizFit- I do use them quite a lot; I like them for baking with. The label says “Simply Egg Whites” but its not powdered- the only ingredient in it is egg whites. So its in liquid form. And I love that because I know that there’s lot of “egg substitutes” which have a whole bunch of crappy chemicals added in. But this is just egg whites in liquid egg white form:)
Loveofoats- ooh goody, let me know how it goes!
Sagan,
Thanks for your recent comments. I don’t have any particular comment on Banana Bread — I’m not into cooking in a big way ….
But can I just say that I am incredibly impressed with your blog and particularly when I saw on your profile that you are just 19.
I did not have anywhere near the amount of insight that you have or interest in healthy living when I was that age — I coasted along not thinking about things too much for many years (which is how the problems arose and developed).
Your blog is awesome!
Best wishes,
Sharon
MMMMM..these look delicious!
Oh this looks delicious! I wonder if the recipe would work for muffins? (asks Ms.NeverCooks)
i didn’t think I was gonna have anything to say, but then I scrolled down to the picture and that loaf looks DELICIOUS!
Banana bread is such a quintessential baked good – so delicious, and so easily adaptable with different “add-ins” like chocolate chips, fruits, nuts, etcetera. Your Apple-Banana Bread looks wonderful!
ok, that looks REALLY good. I might have to actually (gasp!) make this myself. Look out, Lisa is turning on the oven!
Lisa
Wow, that sounds good! I think I might just have one squishy banana in the house so I may try it with extra apples.
My wife and I have been looking for a healthy, tasty banana bread…this looks awesome. Thank you!
That looks great! I love banana bread, so will definitely give this recipe a try.
I am pretty sure they sell simply egg whites at the Safeway near me….I know whatever they have is in liquid form.
Maybe I should make this for the
4th of July…
Does sound super delicious. I’ll have to give it a whirl.
Looks yummy! I am definitely giving this a try.
Sharon- thats very sweet! I guess I’m lucky to have found my passion so quickly.
Cammy- I’ve wondered the same thing myself. I’m sure that it’d be easy to make mini-loaves or muffins… the oven temperature and length of baking time would just have to be adjusted accordingly. And unfortunately I’m not quite kitchen-savvy enough to figure out what the best temperature and time would be… any ideas?
Veggiegirl- thanks for stopping by! I completely agree with you about banana bread. Mmm baking.
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Thanks very much for sharing this interesting post. I am just starting up my own blog and this has given me inspiration to what I can achieve.
omg i need to make this!! thankyou for the recipe =)
JUST made this bread after randomly stumbling upon the recipe looking for healthy baking. Substituted the whole apple for 1/2 cup of pumpkin, and added a few tbsps of chocolate chips, DELICIOUS!
Very moist bread, and tastes very sweet regardless of no added sugar.
Thank you!
the texture of that bread looks BEAUTIFUL!! this recipe is very do-able. 🙂
I love the looks of that banana bread! I love that there is no added sugar to it.