So I confess I have a banana problem, I spend my life waiting for my bananas to go just brown enough that I can justify calling them overripe and making banana bread out of them. My real problem lies in the fact that The Chap usually eats all of the bananas before they get to this stage.  So I do whatever any sane person would do, anytime there is one lonely banana there I stash it in the freezer for future banana bread. Unlike most of those sane people I kinda forgot that I was doing this and  had a rummage in my freezer to find this:

That was 7 freezer bananas, now let me tell you a banana that has come from the freezer is a magical thing. I’m not sure what the science is but they’re extra banana – y so I was a happy girl knowing that I had 2 loafs of banana bread sitting right there! I did however think that if I was going to make (and possibly eat) 2 loaves I should probably try to make them healthier. I experimented; swapped some flour for wholemeal and used oil and yogurt instead of butter. The results were good, moist, chewy, nutty banana bread!!

Simply half the recipe to make 1 loaf. Your bananas don’t have to be from the freezer but make sure they’re really ripe!

Ingredients:

• 250g plain flour
• 100g wholemeal flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp bicarb
• 150g caster sugar
• 100g brown sugar
• 80g fat free greek yogurt/yogurt
• 220ml vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 6-7 bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans/walnuts (optional)
• 1/2 cup dessicated coconut (I added 1/4 cup to 1 loaf as a test and it was amazing)

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 170c
• Grease and flour 2 loaf tins and line the bottom with parchment
• Whisk the dry  (first 4 )ingredients in a large bowl
• In a large jug, mix the wet ingredients (everything up to the vanilla)
• Make a well in the flour mix and whisk in the wet ingredients until just combined
• Stir in the mashed banana with a wooden spoon or spatula
• Fold in the nuts and coconut if using and divide the mix between the 2 loaf tins
• Bake for approx 1 hr but check after 50 until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean
• Cool in the tins on a wire rack or if you can’t wait dive in while warm

Serve warm (and buttered) or cool as dessert with coconut yogurt and blueberries: