Lower Carb Banana Bread
Yesterday we had some bananas that were a little overripe. Most people won't want to eat them, but that makes them good for banana bread. I found a recipe on Simply Recipes: https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/banana_bread/ that was pretty easy to make.
The only change I made was to substitute Splenda for Sugar. There are probably other things you could do to reduce the carbs more, but this minimally affects the taste. It doesn't make it carb-free, but it does help. Using Splenda reduces the calories per serving by about 65 and the grams of carbs by about 16. You are still getting about 21 grams of carbs per serving, so be careful, but this saves you about 43% of the carbs that you would be getting otherwise.
Conclusion: Splenda for cooking is less dense, and although it isn’t completely sugar-free, it saves calories, and in the case of diabetes management, may help you with the sweet tooth and with baking. However, you may have to respect the portions allotted for baked goods. For example, if you’d like to count this modified recipe with Splenda as one carb, you’d have to eat a slice slightly smaller than the one pictured (about 3/4 of a inch slice from a bread baked on a 4 x 8-inch loaf pan. If you get the same amount from the original recipe, you’d get about 2 carbs per slice.
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I hope you like it!
Here is the recipe:
Ingredients
2 to 3 medium (7" to 7-7/8" long) very ripe bananas, peeled (about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups mashed)
1/3 cup (76g) butter, unsalted or salted, melted
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 pinch salt
3/4 cup (150g) sugar (1/2 cup if you would like it less sweet, 1 cup if more sweet)
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (205g) all-purpose flour
Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C), and butter a 4 x 8-inch loaf pan.
In a mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork until completely smooth. Stir the melted butter into the mashed bananas.
Mix in the baking soda and salt. Stir in the sugar, beaten egg, and vanilla extract. Mix in the flour.
Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour at 350°F (175°C), or until a toothpick or wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. A few dry crumbs are okay; streaks of wet batter are not. If the outside of the loaf is browned but the center is still wet, loosely tent the loaf with foil and continue baking until the loaf is fully baked.
Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for a few minutes. Then remove the banana bread from the pan and let it cool completely before serving. Slice and serve. (A bread knife helps to make slices that aren't crumbly.)
Wrapped well, the banana bread will keep at room temperature for 4 days. For longer storage, refrigerate the loaf up to 5 days, or freeze it.
Send me a message at girlene@braziliandietitian.com, to tell me how you like this recipe!
To Your Health,
Girlene
