Skinny nutty banana bread

This post really should be called ‘Skinny nutty banana bread that makes you feel like a pro domestic goddess’.  But a link that length wouldn’t work too well on Twitter’s 140 characters…

In any case, this banana bread is skinny – almost virtuous using Greek yoghurt instead of butter and 3 whole bananas.  One could argue that if one ate the entire loaf that’d be three of your five a day.  And technically that would be correct.

And, like I said, it makes you feel like a pro domestic goddess.  Bear with me for a moment while I explain.  You know those tv shows where they subject someone to the special light that shows every sun spot and bit of ageing the skin has endured from those first non parental holidays where you lathered yourself in factor 1.5 at 7am and never reapplied?  And the candidate looks like a spotty old handbag?  When your bananas look like that, then they’re ready for this bread.  I neglected mine so long they looked medically dead, completely black on the outside and yet, on the inside, sticky, sugary, banana-y shapes that virtually mashed themselves.  Domestic goddess win no. 1 – when guests visit your home and cast a sorry glance in the direction of your fruit bowl and its sad bananas, you have an entirely legit excuse for those bad boys.

What’s more, this bread is virtually fool proof – so easy to execute and yet, when you lift this guy out of the oven, with his golden body rising high out of the tin, the smell that fills the room would have cartoon animals floating up from the floor and wafting through the house on the fresh baked aroma that only a (slightly smug) domestic goddess can achieve.  Win no. 2.

Go forth and bake.

Ingredients

3 decent sized bananas, mashed
1/2 a cup of full fat Greek Yoghurt
1 egg
1 1/2 cups of plain flour (you could use white or wholemeal as you wish)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup of golden caster sugar
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 180 C and lightly grease a loaf tin with olive oil.

In bowl one mix together the mashed bananas, yoghurt and egg.  In bowl two combine the flour (I didn’t bother sifting), sugar, baking powder, salt and walnuts.  Add bowl one to bowl two and stir just until combined.  Things get kinda thick right about now but don’t be tempted to over mix, we’re not making cupcakes here – those little banana-y nutty lumps and bumps are the ugly ducklings that turn into beautiful swans, aka the slightly chewy, tastiest, banana breadiest bites.

Pour the whole lot into your loaf tin and try to dig a bit of a divot out the middle because this baby will rise…

Bake for 50 minutes or until a sharp knife comes out clean.

Remove from the pan and allow to cool completely (who are we kidding here?).

Enjoy.  Have it naked, or topped with butter shavings, or fried and served with crispy bacon and honey (FYI that one’s not so healthy but totally on the domestic goddess chart)…  just enjoy.