Yield: 32 pieces
Pan: 9 × 9-inch baking pan
Oven: 350°F
Bake time: 50–60 minutes
Ingredients
Wet ingredients
- 600 g very ripe banana
- 115 g nonfat plain Greek yogurt
- 150 g egg whites
- 15 g vanilla extract
- 300 g pitted Deglet Noor dates
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 150 g canola oil
Dry ingredients
- 280 g whole wheat flour
- 85 g ground oats
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg, optional
- 170 g walnut pieces
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease or line a 9 × 9-inch baking pan.
- Blend the wet ingredients. Add the banana, Greek yogurt, egg whites, vanilla, dates, molasses, and canola oil to a blender. Blend until smooth.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, ground oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, optional nutmeg, and walnut pieces.
- Combine. Pour the blended banana mixture into the dry ingredients. Stir just until evenly combined.
- Bake. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the center is set and a tester inserted near the middle comes out without wet batter.
- Cool and cut. Let the banana bread cool before cutting into 32 pieces.
Why This One Works
This banana nut bread leans heavily on ingredients that do more than one job.
Very ripe bananas and Deglet Noor dates bring sweetness, moisture, and flavor. Whole wheat flour and ground oats give the bread structure, while walnuts add richness and crunch.
And because most of the wet ingredients go straight into the blender, the batter comes together with very little work.
Why Blend the Dates?
Instead of chopping the dates and leaving little pockets of sweetness throughout the bread, I blend them with the bananas and other wet ingredients.
That spreads the sweetness more evenly through the batter and keeps the method simple: blend the wet ingredients, mix the dry ingredients, then bring the two together.
Nutrition
Estimated nutrition per piece (1/32 of the pan, about 55 g):
| DLN Banana Nut Bread | Starbucks Banana, Walnut & Pecan Loaf | |
|---|---|---|
| Serving size | 55 g | 55 g |
| Calories | 170 | 185 |
| Carbohydrate | 21 g | 22.4 g |
| Total sugar | 9 g | 12.7 g |
| Fiber | 3 g | 1 g |
| Protein | 4 g | 2.9 g |
| Total fat | 9 g | 9.7 g |
| Saturated fat | 1 g | 1.5 g |
For a fair comparison, both breads are shown at the same 55 g serving size.
One Starbucks order is about 113 g, or just over two 55 g servings.
At the same weight, calories and total fat are fairly similar. The DLN version has less sugar and more fiber and protein.
Nutrition is estimated and will vary somewhat depending on the specific ingredients used. Starbucks values are scaled from the nutrition information for one Banana, Walnut & Pecan Loaf.
Delicious Lazy Nutrition
This is exactly the kind of baking that makes sense in my kitchen.
Blend.
Mix.
Bake.
The bananas bring sweetness and moisture. The dates add more sweetness and body. The walnuts bring richness and crunch.
Every ingredient earns its place.
And in the end, it still tastes like banana nut bread.