Paleo Banana Bread

I’ve never been much of a baker. I find it finicky, messy and ultimately fattening… I don’t really want to bake because I can happily do without calorie rich, sugar laden, nutrient poor food. It is that simple. The exception to this rule is banana bread/cake and carrot cake. These bread-cakes give that delicious melt-in-your-mouth yumminess without the grains, gluten and sugar of most baked goods. Not only that, the aroma that is wafting up the stairs from my kitchen to my study and into my nose as I write, is nothing short of heavenly. You can eat a slice or two for breakfast slathered with butter, ghee, or nut butters or indulge in an afternoon treat or after dinner dessert with a dollop of organic cream.

The internet abounds with banana bread recipes, so here is my version of an easy (must be easy!), one-bowl wonder.

Ingredients:

• 4 ripe bananas (about a cup-full when mashed)

• 4 medium eggs

• 1/4 cup oil or melted butter/coconut oil (I use macadamia oil)

• 1/4 cup runny honey or maple syrup (I use maple syrup)

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 and a half cups of almond meal/flour

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon bi-carb of soda

• 1/4 teaspoon sea-salt

Optional: add chopped walnuts, chopped dark chocolate, or anything else you fancy! mix in at the end

Method:

can be done by hand or in a food processor

• Heat oven to 350 F or 160 C and prepare your loaf pan by lining it with baking paper and lightly oiling the paper. Let the paper overlap the sides of the pan for easy removal.

• mash the bananas

• add the eggs to the bananas and beat to mix well

• add the oil, syrup, vanilla, cinnamon to mixture

• add the almond flour, the baking powder, salt and the bi-carb and mix well.

• pour into your pan

• bake for 55-60 min, test to see that the cake is not runny in the centre.

• remove from oven, let cool for a few minutes, remove from pan and try not to eat it before it cools down.

  Enjoy!