Whole wheat banana bread just sweetened with dates is a healthy as well as yummy option both for kids and adults. This can be introduced to kids from 1 year of age. This is a wise option to indulge naturally sweetened bread as sugar-laden breads and cakes promote sugar addictions & invite sugar related diseases, in the long run. Please note that this bread is not loaded with dates. The recipe calls for just 12 to 16 dates (as per your preferred sweetness) and this can be had by 4 people for 3 days and so each people will get only 1 to 2(max) dates a day and this is a normal consumption. So, this bread can be enjoyed without any guilt!
Banana dates bread without sugar
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Serves: 4
Ingredients
Wet ingredients:
- Big Ripened banana - 2
- Egg - 1 (Refer notes to go eggless)
- Milk - ¼ cup
- Lemon juice - 2 tsp
- Oil - ¼ cup
Sweetener:
- Soft dates - 12 to 16
Dry ingredients:
- Whole wheat flour - 1.5 cup
- Baking soda - ¾ tsp
- Cardamom powder - ¼ tsp
- Cinnamon powder - ¼ tsp
- Nutmeg powder - 1 pinch
- Cloves - 3
- Walnuts - 1 tbsp chopped
Instructions
Wet mix:
- Take 2 well-ripened banana, peel the skin and mash well using a fork/potato masher/whisk/hand.
- Take ¼ cup warm milk and add 2 tsp lemon drops to it. Mix well to curdle.
- In a bowl, add 1 egg(at room temperature) add whisk well.
- Add mashed banana to whisked egg and whisk well.
- Add curdled milk(not hot now) to the above and mix well.
- Add ¼ cup coconut oil(melt if it is solid & bring to room temperature) to the above and whisk well.
Dry mix:
- To a sieve, add 1.5 cups whole wheat flour.
- Add ¾ tsp baking soda
- Add ¼ tsp Cardamom powder
- Add ¼ tsp Cinnamon powder
- Add 1 pinch Nutmeg powder
- Crush 3 cloves in a mortar & pestle as fine as possible and add to the sieve
- Gently mix all ingredients and then sieve twice
- Add 1 tbsp chopped walnuts to the sieved mix and mix gently
- Add deseeded & chopped(small sizes) soft dates to the wet mix and mix gently.
Mix & Bake:
- First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit or 170 degrees Celcius.
- Pour the wet mix over the dry mix and use cut & fold method to gently mix the batter. Do not over mix. Just mix until no dry flour is found.
- Grease bread tin with coconut oil. Or you shall add a butter paper in the bottom.
- Pour the mixed batter into the greased tin.
- Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Once baked, take out of the oven and leave it outside for 20 mins inside the tin.
- Then gently take it out of the tin by inverting the tin over a plate and tapping at the bottom.
- Again invert the bread to normal position and allow it to cool down.
- Once completely cooled, cut using serrated knife & store in air-tight container & enjoy as a snack.
Notes
1.Any sweet variety of banana can be used but it should be well ripened. I have used long variety available in USA. If using short Indian variety, use 3 to 4 bananas, depending on the size.
2.Coconut oil doesn't give a dominant flavor to this bread. It gives a neutral flavor in this recipe. You shall replace it with any other neutral-flavored oil.
3.Number of dates can be used as per your sweet preference. 16 makes the rightly sweet bread for me. I recommend adding a minimum of 12 dates for mild sweetness.
4.Do not chop dates to big sized pieces. Small size makes it evenly distributed and gets in mouth for every bite to add sweetness to that bite.
5.Use soft Medjool dates. I used Costco Organic Medjool dates.
6.Always, open the dates and check for any black fungal deposits (as shown in below pic) and discard those dates.
7.To make this eggless, increase oil to ⅓ cup and increase milk to ½ cup or add ¼ cup milk(warm milk curdled with lemon juice and then brought to room temperature) with ¼ cup curd(room temperature).
2.Coconut oil doesn't give a dominant flavor to this bread. It gives a neutral flavor in this recipe. You shall replace it with any other neutral-flavored oil.
3.Number of dates can be used as per your sweet preference. 16 makes the rightly sweet bread for me. I recommend adding a minimum of 12 dates for mild sweetness.
4.Do not chop dates to big sized pieces. Small size makes it evenly distributed and gets in mouth for every bite to add sweetness to that bite.
5.Use soft Medjool dates. I used Costco Organic Medjool dates.
6.Always, open the dates and check for any black fungal deposits (as shown in below pic) and discard those dates.
7.To make this eggless, increase oil to ⅓ cup and increase milk to ½ cup or add ¼ cup milk(warm milk curdled with lemon juice and then brought to room temperature) with ¼ cup curd(room temperature).
Make and enjoy this moist & delicious Whole wheat banana dates bread 🙂 Stays good in room temperature (air-tight container) for 3 days or in refrigerator for 7 days. In Tropical countries like India, refrigerate from second day and consume within 4 to 5 days. My kids demand for 2 to 3 pieces and so I cut into small pieces and store.
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