The humble banana bread was originally created as a way to use up over-ripe bananas at the end the 1930s, where households were unwilling to throw anything away. Even now, if we have brown, speckled bananas at home, then 80% of the time it will be used to create a yummy banana bread (the other 20% is of course freezing them to make delicious smoothies).

Banana bread is extremely versatile, and recently I’ve found myself planning ahead when I’m going to make the delicious bread, as opposed to the more spontaneous route of making it only to use up those yummy bananas! Luckily for me, I’m a little bit banana obsessed, so there’s usually overripe bananas each week in my house that are perfect for this recipe!

For a spring/summer flavour pairing, I thought lemon and blueberry banana bread would be the perfect combination. The juicy blueberries go seriously gooey in the oven, making them sweet and delicious, and the lemon adds a lovely citrus flavour. Whatever flavour banana bread you make, you can’t go wrong!

Don’t like bananas? Why not try my delicious chocolate gingerbread – I promise it’s not just for Christmas!

INGREDIENTS

180g ground almonds
120g GF oat flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 ripe bananas
3 eggs
200g blueberries
2 tsp lemon zest
85g honey
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 fresh lemon juice
60g powdered sugar

RECIPE

1. Preheat your oven to 175C/350F/gas mark 4 and line a loaf tine with greaseproof paper.
2. In a bowl mix together the dry ingredients (ground almonds, oat flour, baking powder). Set aside.
3. Add the eggs and bananas to your blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a bowl (separate from the dry mix) and stir in the remaining wet ingredients – vanilla, honey, coconut oil and lemon zest.
4. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir until fully combined – then gently stir in the blueberries.
5. Pour the mixture into your loaf tin and top with more fresh blueberries, if you like.
6. Bake in the oven for 60-70mins until a skewer comes out clean.
7. While this is baking, make a quick lemon glaze by mixing together the lemon juice and powdered sugar.
8. Once the bread is ready to come out of the oven, leave to cool fully before drizzling over the lemon glaze – enjoy!

Sophie x