I've always eaten banana bread but NEVER made it! My first foray into banana bread was in Maui, Hawaii. We were driving the Road to Hana and one of the pit stops was at a banana bread shack. There were a variety of types, each one I'm sure delicious - we were foolish to only buy one loaf! Since then, I've had it in staff rooms and given it to me by a student - who had added chocolate chips and it was to DIE for!
When I saw this recipe for Ultimate Pecan Banana Bread in Anna Jones' A Modern Way To Cook, I knew I wanted to make it - even if only to relive the relaxing sounds of the sea in Hawaii, with the added benefits of chocolate!
Yay or Nay: YAY!
These were delicious and moreish! I kept going back for more and knowing that they were a healthier alternative - I most definitely would make these again. As I was unsure of how much I would like them (plus not having enough ripe bananas) I made half the amount and baked this recipe in a muffin pan instead of a loaf pan - I mean, does it even matter when it was as yummy as it was?!
Thinking of inexpensive but thoughtful Christmas gifts for co-workers I came across this recipe for Gingerbread Granola. Now, I'm a die-hard fan of Deliciously Ella's Granola but it wasn't very Christmassy! When I think of Christmas I think of Mince Pies, Christmas Pudding and more recently Gingerbread (very American not British!) so hopefully The Healthful Ideas's recipe for Gingerbread Granola would be a mouthful of Christmas first thing in the morning!
Yay or Nay: Nay
This was fairly easy to make, I'd say pretty similar to the Deliciously Ella one. However the ingredients didn't really clump together like you see in the shops. On the plus side, the addition of nut butter gave it a richer taste but I was surprised by the 1tsp of ginger powder. I don't know about you, but gingerbread screams a ton of ginger to me so I ignored the recipe on this front and went for three! I figured the recipe as it currently stands wouldn't have a strong enough gingerbread taste and I didn't want to tell people it was 'gingerbread granola' and for it to taste nothing like that! Even with the change there still isn't a strong ginger taste but there is a little hint of spice. BTW MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
