Battle of the Banana Breads

I've found several recipes lately for quick loaf breads, but since I had a freezer full of too ripe bananas, it seemed that banana bread would be my recipe of choice.  I had two recipes to work with, one traditional and one healthified.  There are many philosophies to work with when healthifying baked goods: sugar substitutes, oil replacements, additions of healthy proteins etc.  The trick is to keep the balance between the dry and liquid ingredients, so for an inexperienced baker like myself, having a recipe is always a good idea.  Since I had so many bananas, I thought I would give both recipes a try, use my husband as a blind taste tester, and determine for ourselves just how well the healthified version of a traditional favorite measured up!

Traditional Recipe: (from Better Homes and Gardens cookbook)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 half cups mashed ripe banana
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cooking oil or melted butter (I used canola oil)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional - I omitted)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of a 9X5X3 loaf pan; set aside.  In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Make a well in center of flour mixture; set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine eggs, banana, sugar, and oil.  Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture.  Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy).  Fold in walnuts if adding.  Spoon batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes before removing from pan.  Cool loaf completely on rack.  Wrap well and store overnight  before slicing.

Healthified Recipe: (from Spark Recipes)
 2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup applesauce
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas 

Preheat oven to 350. Grease bread loaf pan, unless it's non stick.  Mix all dry indredients into a large bowl, make sure to mix well.  

Mix all wet ingredients in another bowl, make sure to mix thoroughly.

Add liquid mix to dry mix and stir thouroughly.

Put into bread loaf pan and cook for approximately 55 to 65 minutes. I always start checking the colour around 50 minutes, should be a nice golden brown. Insert a toothpick in centre to check if it's done. Toothpick may be moist from bananas, just make sure it's not moist from batter.  (Diva Note: Mine was definitely done at 50 minutes, but I don't have a digital temperature control on my oven, so it could have been slightly high.)

Let bread cool in pans for about 5 to 10 minutes. Run a knife along outside edge to loosen sides.

Looking for something sweet, add chocolate chips, just make sure to add in your calories. This bread is great warm with peanut butter on it.


 Nutrition Information Traditional:
215 calories per slice, 9 grams total fat (1 gram saturated), 27 mg cholesterol, 122 mg sodium, 32 grams carbs, 1 gram fiber, 3 grams protein


Nutrition Information Healthified: (without addition of nuts or chocolate chips)

• Servings Per Recipe: 12
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 149.4

• Total Fat: 0.9 g
• Cholesterol: 18.5 mg
• Sodium: 380.9 mg
• Total Carbs: 32.5 g
• Dietary Fiber: 1.3 g
• Protein: 3.5 g

The Verdict:
All I told Alex was that I had tried two different recipes and wanted to know which he liked better.  I gave him no indication of one being healthier or what ingredients had been changed.  The verdict was unanimous: while both seemed to taste identical, the healthified version was more moist than the traditional!  Score a point for healthy eating!  I am a fan of using applesauce to compensate for omitting some egg and oil in baking.  I think it is one of the more natural ways to cut down on calories and fat.  You will notice that regular sugar was used in both recipes.  I'm not convinced that artificial sweeteners are worth the decreased calories.  I don't like the taste, and 'real' has to be better than 'fake' in my opinion.  I'll just have a smaller slice.  Or puff for an extra 20 minutes on the treadmill.  This healthified version of banana bread will definitely become our new traditional.  Next time I'll try adding some chocolate chips or nuts for a bit of a change.  For more information on how to healthify any baking recipe, click here.