Chocolate and Pecan Banana Bread from Benecol
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes to 1 hour
Serves: 14
Nutrition: Per serving
Energy
209 Kcal
Fat
11g
Saturates
2.7g
Sugars
11g
Salt
0.51g
This recipe is certainly more of a bread than a cake and so benefits from a little extra Benecol spread when serving a slice. The refined sugar has been cut out, instead the dates, vanilla and the very ripe bananas give it it's natural sweetness. Recipe created by Milli Taylor for Benecol.
Ingredients
140g of pitted and roughly chopped Medjool dates
2 very ripe bananas (160g chopped weight)
1 tbsp vanilla paste
pinch of sea salt
2 medium eggs
70g 66% cocoa solid chocolate chips
80g Pecans
170g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp baking powder
100g Benecol “buttery” spread
Method
Preheat oven to 160C fan (180C convection oven).
Add chopped dates and 150ml of water to a small saucepan and simmer for a few minutes, until the dates soften and become a chunky puree.
Blitz the bananas, vanilla paste and the cooled dates in a blender.
In a large bowl, whisk together the benecol spread and the eggs, then mix in the flour, baking powder and bicarb.
Mix in the date and banana puree.
Stir in all but a few pecans and chocolate chips (reserving some for the top of the loaf)
Line a 2lb loaf tin with lightly greased baking paper and pour in the mix.
Sprinkle the nuts and chocolate on the top and bake in the oven for 45mins-1hr or until a skewer comes out clean. Check with a skewer after 45 minutes so that you know where you are.
Let cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning it out to cool properly on a wire rack for at least an hour before slicing.