Fresh Ginger Banana Bread

You think you know all about banana bread? Then try this one!

I love banana bread and today I had four very ripe bananas sitting in my fruit bowl. So what could be more natural than baking a banana bread? Unfortunately, the usual ones tend to be quite rich. Usually, I don´t care that much. If I eat a lot I just jog a little longer. But this morning we had the first night frost and I knew I won´t be out jogging frequently for quite a while. To spare some calories I tried an extra healthy banana bread version without any fat apart from 2 eggs. The four large bananas make for the sweetness, for a moist almost pudding like texture I added an orange, and fresh ginger gives the bread a good bite. I used a loaf pan for mine but the next time I´ll bake it in a shallow 9 or 10 inch cake pan.

It tastes great just on its own but is perfect with a lot of whipped cream and cup of coffee. (Of course, this way I added most of the spared calories, but maybe there will be no frost tomorrow…)

Ingredients:

0.5 cup oatmeal

2 cups wheat flour (you can use 2.5 if you have no oatmeal)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

6 pods cardamon, grounded

2 eggs, slightly beaten

4 large mashed bananas

1/4 cup runny honey

1 orange, peeled and roughly cleaned from the white skin

zest from 1 orange

80 g grated ginger (a generous 1 and a half Tbsp. when you like a bit of bite, but you can adjust to your taste)

icing sugar for dusting (optional but I liked the contrast between the sweetness of the sugar and the less sweet bread)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C), grease a 9 inch cake pan.

Mix flours, baking powder, cinnamon, cardamom in a large bowl.

Puree the orange and the bananas in a food processor, mix with the slightly beaten eggs, honey and ginger.

Spoon the dry mixture into the wet and combine thoroughly. The batter is rather liquid.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for minimum 50 minutes (mine took 65 min.) until a wooden skewer comes out clean.

Still hot, dust with icing sugar.

Let cool and enjoy!

The bread does not store well. It´s best on the first day, the next it becomes a bit soggy.