Like most people I love chocolate, and from my teenage years I have loved baking!  So now, as I am trying to stay as sugar free as possible (did I mention I am a recovering sugar addict?),  I am always experimenting with the most natural ways of baking with our health in mind.

Recently I posted a photo of a banana chocolate loaf I made onto instagram and was asked for the recipe. Find it below….

Ingredients:

4 ripe bananas
30 (165g) raspberries (roughly chopped)
2 eggs
2 Tbsp honey (manuka if possible)
4 Tbsp maple syrup
6 Tbsp melted Coconut Oil

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups gluten free flour (Dove is great)
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt (Pink Himalayan Salt if possible)

1/2 cup good quality cocoa
handful of chopped pecans

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C.

Mash bananas in a bowl, then add eggs, honey, maple syrup, vanilla, coconut oil and mix. Drop in chopped raspberries, flour, baking powder, salt and pecans. Mix with a wooden spoon or similar by hand. Be sure to mix only until all ingredients are combined. Your batter should look quite wet. Gluten free flour makes recipes a bit more dry so if batter looks dry add in a few more tablespoons of melted coconut oil.

Use two loaf tins for baking.  Line with a small amount of coconut oil.  Bake for 45 minutes.  Check loaves at 45 minutes with a knife to see if fully baked.  If knife has wet cake on it bake for 10 more minutes.

Healthy eating tips:

Manuka honey and pure maple syrup have healthy properties but do remember they are still forms of sugar that create the same reaction in the body of raising blood sugar levels and causing insulin to be released in order to clear that blood sugar.

In order to have less of a blood sugar spike adding protein to a meal or dish is helpful.  I have added the pecans for some protein. You could also serve the loaf with a few slices of cheese or with some natural yogurt to bring down the glyceamic index.  Everything in moderation as they say!