Gluten-free | Dairy-free | low in sugar

Makes: 1 loaf
Cuisine: Bridget's Healthy Treats
Course: Dessert
Difficulty: Easy
Prep time: 25mins
Cook time: 80mins
Cool time: 1 hour

What do you do when you have a lot of leftover bananas? You make banana berry bread, of course. My Healthier Banana Berry bread is the perfect treat if you want to put your pinny on and create something deliciously comforting and homemade without all the nasties.

My recipe is free from gluten, Is low in added sugar and uses the goodness of bananas and blueberries for energy. It's also dairy-free and super simple to make.

This moist sponge-like banana bread is so wonderfully flavoured despite being very low in added sugar. It relies on the sweetness of super ripe bananas, applesauce and ground almonds to give it its signature taste and texture. 

Hints, Tips & Tricks

This recipe requires the use of very ripe bananas. I usually buy overripe bananas by the box load at my local greengrocer. I then peel and freeze them in small reusable plastic bags, so I've always got ripe bananas at the ready for baking and smoothies.

If you would like a banana bread recipe that's completely sugar-free yet still delicious, check out my Banana Bread Muffins.

RECIPE

Ingredients

• 200 g (7 oz) gluten-free self-raising flour
• 50 g (1.7 oz) ground almonds ( almond meal)
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• Pinch Himalayan salt
• 75 g (2.6 oz) coconut sugar
• 4 medium-size very ripe bananas, very well mashed
• 60 ml (2 fl oz) avocado oil
• 2 large free-range eggs
• 100 ml (3.5 oz) unsweetened apple sauce
• 120 g (4.2 oz) frozen or fresh blueberries or raspberries
• 1 banana ( just ripe) for the top of the bread 

Method

1. Preheat your oven on bake at 170C ( 340F) and line a loaf tin with non-stick baking paper.
2. Into a large mixing bowl, stir the gluten-free flour, ground almonds, cinnamon, mixed spice, salt, and coconut sugar. Set aside a ¼ cup of the dry ingredients. 
3. Into a jug, whisk together the bananas, avocado oil, eggs and apple sauce until well blended and then pour into the dry ingredients and stir to combine. 
4. Sprinkle the ¼ cup of dry ingredients over the berries and toss to coat them before stirring them through the batter. Doing this will help stop your berries from sinking to the bottom of your bread as it cooks. 
5. Pour the batter into the loaf pan, slice the last banana, and lay it on the bread. 
6. Bake the bread for 70-80 minutes until golden brown, and it passes the skewer test. 
7. Allow the bread to sit in the tin for 15 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Serve lightly toasted or as is in thick slices!