Easy Gluten Free, Vegan, Sugar Free Banana Bread

I recently made two cakes to share at a potluck where several folks had allergies or diet restrictions. This cake is vegan, gluten free, nuts free, and sugar free. It is possibly the easiest cake recipe that you have come across. It is delicious however and a great way to get kids to eat finger millet/ragi. You can substitute ragi with buckwheat or whole wheat flour. You can also use the batter to make banana pan cakes.

Ingredients

5 over ripe bananas (the riper the better - the skin should be starting to blacken)

1 banana cut into thin slices for garnishing (optional)
1 1/2 cup ragi flour/buckwheat flour
1/2 cup olive oil (not extra virgin) or use any other oil that you use for cooking
1/2 tsp cardamom powder 

1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder

Method

Butter a baking pan and preheat the oven to 350 F. 

Put all the ingredients except the baking soda and powder and puree in a blender. 

Then to this puree add the baking powder and soda and pulse a few times till it is mixed well.

Pour this into the prepared pan and bake at 350 for about 50 min. Check with toothpick or knife if completely cooked. Pierce the center of the cake and if it is completely cooked, the toothpick or knife will come out clean.

Tips

The cake is not very sweet and you can add sugar or date puree if you want it sweeter. Taste the batter. Else, drizzle the cake with honey or maple syrup after it has been baked.

Poppy Seed Fruit Muffin

This is great breakfast recipe, especially on those morning when you are running late and you don't have time for breakfast. I enjoy baked goods especially muffins. They are the perfect size and you can make a nice batch at a time. Now, I must confess, if you put an assortment of muffins in front of me, I will gravitate to one which has poppy seeds. The black poppy seeds that are used in the muffins add the the perfect texture and just enhance the overall look of the muffin. I love biting into the muffin and finding these little seeds to nibble on. So, I thought, why not make poppy seed muffins at home, which we could eat for breakfast over the week. I did not want to start my day with something very sweet and buttery, so I decided to make a healthy muffin. I have been experimenting with the baking process, cutting back the fat content and replacing it with fruit and this was the perfect time to put it into action and test the results. I used minimal sugar, eliminated the butter/oil and the muffins still came out fluffy and moist. I thoroughly enjoyed this. This is the perfect recipe which lets you indulge in a baked cake without feeling guilty about it. To make  it decadent, add some creamcheese frosting.

Ingredients
1.5 cups whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp wheat bran
2 tsp black poppy seeds
3 tbsp flax seed powder
1-3 tbsp milk, if required
oil/butter to grease the muffin tin (I used the oil spray)

Method
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Sieve together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon a couple of time to aerate it and keep it aside.  In another bowl, whisk the eggs and vanilla essence together, till the eggs are nicely mixed and frothy. To this add the mashed bananas and apple sauce and mix well. Then add the brown sugar, ground flaxseed and mix. To these wet ingredients mixture, add the sieved dry ingredients a little at a time and incorporate them in. Then add the wheat bran, and poppy seeds. At this time, check the consistency of the batter. If you drop a spoonful, it should fall easily. If it seems a bit thick, thin it out with a little milk. Add about 1 tbsp at a time and thin it out to a consistency that when it falls it create a ribbon.

Fill your muffin tin and bake for about 20-30 minutes till completely baked. Use a sharp knife or a toothpick and pierce the center. If it comes out clean, your muffins are ready. Let the pan cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes and then it will be easy to remove the muffins.

Tips
When baking, try to avoid overmixing ingredients once you start adding the dry to the wet ingredients. So, mix just enough to incorporate the dry ingredients and make the batter. Fill each muffin mould to about 1/2 or 3/4 level. Leave enough space for the muffin to rise. To see more tips regarding baking, see the tips added to different baked recipes.

Banana Bread - Have Banana Bread Toast for Breakfast

I make banana walnut cake very often. In fact, most of the times the bananas don't get eaten and I finally need to use them up to make the cake. Of course this is advantageous to my family as well as friends since all of us get to eat home made cake often. I have been toying with the idea of making this recipe healthier by subsituting all purpose flour with whole wheat and cutting back on the added butter. I finally decided that I should experiment and see what the result would be. I was quite worried that the bread may be too hard or tough or even flavorless, but to my surprise it was moister, fluffier and seemed to have more depth of textures and flavors. This is definitely not as sweet as a cake would be and the fat content is also extremely low. So, I would definitely recommend making this as an alternate to the bread you use in your morning breakfast. Warm it up and eat it with a glass of milk or toast it and spread a little honey on it. It tastes great, has whole grains and is very satisfying.

Ingredients
1.5 cups whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
3 bananas, over ripe - mashed
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup apple sauce
2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1/4 cup butter milk (can substitute milk if you don't have butter milk, also see tips)
1/4 cup yogurt
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Method
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a baking tin and keep aside. You can use a standard bread/loaf tin or an 8/9 inch baking tin.
Since we are reducing the fat content significantly to just two tbsp, it is necessary to aerate all the components so that the resultant bread will be spongy. The apple sauce and yogurt help add the necessary moisture.
Sieve all the dry ingredients, i.e. whole wheat flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. Do this at least a couple of times. In a bowl whisk the two eggs till the mixture is frothy. Add the vanilla essence and mix again.
In another bown, mix together the mashed banana, apple sauce, sugar and the melted butter. Mix this well using an electric beater or a whisk. To this add the yogurt and the butter milk/milk and mix well. Add the eggs next and beat well. Then add the sieved flour mixture to the wet ingredients, a little at a time and fold it in with a spatula. Add 1/4 cup of flour then move the spatula in a circular manner, moving the batter from the base of the bowl to the top and incorporating the flour into the batter during this process. This is called folding the flour into the batter. You don't want to over mix the batter and so avoid the temptation to just dump the flour and mix with the whisk. Last, fold in the walnuts.  Pour the batter and bake for about 20-30 minutes. The house will fill up with the aroma of bananas and cinnamon as the bread is baking. Use a knife or toothpick and insert it in the center of the bread. If it comes out clean, then the bread is completely baked. Let it cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before removing from the tin. Then place the bread on the cooling rack as it continues to cool. This will ensure that the bread doesn't get soggy from the moisture being released as it cools down.

Tips
As bananas start to ripen and get dark spots on the skin, I freeze them. Then they are readily available for whenever I want to make banana bread or cake. If you make yogurt at home and it's not very thick and has plenty of water, then use 1/2 cup of this yogurt along with the water component. To make apple sauce at home, peel apples, remove the seeds and inedible core and then cook these with very little water. Turn off the heat when the apple is cooked. Puree the apples to make apple sauce. This should have the consistency of baby food puree or ketchup.

Blueberry Smoothie

I enjoy smoothies, for breakfast, as desserts or even as an occasional meal. There was a smoothie shop right around the corner from where I worked and I was regular visitor. I remember my afternoon trips to the smoothie shop very fondly. Most often than not, after browsing through the menu, I used to end up selecting one of the berry smoothies. These days, I enjoy making these berry smoothies at home. The following smoothie recipe is perfect with a dollop of vanilla icecream.

Ingredients
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 banana
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup crushed ice
vanilla ice cream (optional)

Method
Blend together all the ingredients except for the ice cream. If its too thick, add a little more ice or orange juice. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.



Tips

If you do not have flavored yogurt, you can use regular yogurt.