Sugar Free Classic Banana Bread

November 30, 2021

This is one of the best banana bread recipes I've ever found and I've never looked at any other recipes since discovering this one. I've modified the recipe to make it sugar free using xylitol, so it's a not so naughty sweet treat.

So, what is Xylitol you might ask? Xylitol is a naturally occurring sugar extracted most commonly from the Birch tree. Xylitol has 40% less calories than sugar and doesn't raise blood sugar levels, making it a popular sweetener in low carb products. There's a lot of information on the web about Xylitol if you want to investigate further.

Okay, now let's get into it!

Ingredients:

Self Raising Flour	2 cups
Bicarb Soda	1/2 teaspoon
Cinnamon	1 teaspoon
Xylitol (or firmly packed brown sugar)	1 cup + 2 teaspoons
Eggs	2
Macadamia oil (or canola, sunflower, vegetable oil)	½ cup
Buttermilk (or half lemon juice into ½ cup of milk)	½ cup
Vanilla Extract	1 teaspoon
Large Overripe Bananas Mashed	2
Butter	10g
Small Banana: not too ripe, thickly sliced lengthways for the top of the loaf	1

Here's how to make it:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and line a loaf tin, ensure there is overhang over the sides of the tin with the baking paper to make it easy to remove the banana bread once cooked.

2. Combine the flour, bi carb soda, cinnamon and sugar in a large bowl.3. Whisk the egg, oil, buttermilk, vanilla extract and mashed banana in another bowl, once combined at this to the dry flour mixture and fold this through until well combined.

3. Spoon the banana bread mix into the loaf tin and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon.

4. In a frying pan melt the butter, add in the thickly sliced banana and top the slices of banana with your sugar of choice. Cook for 1-2 minutes ( turning the banana slices) until its caramelised, do not let the slices get too soggy.

5. Arrange the slices over the banana bread, cook in the oven for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Once cooked, cool down in the tin for 10 minutes before removing and placing over a wire rack to cook down.

6. Serve warm or at room temperature with your favourite cup of tea or coffee.