Blueberry-Banana Bread

I love, LOVE muffins and quick breads. I’ve often made banana-nut bread for my family, but I love to find other great fruit combinations. In my archive of recipes, I found a recipe for blueberry-banana bread. You get antioxidants and fiber added as a bonus! But like many muffin-quick bread recipes, it is a bit too sugary and of course, you’ve got all that white flour. How to make it more nutritious without turning it into a brick?

One of my favorite tricks is to use a combination of white flour and whole-wheat flour with wheat bran. Because the bananas turn the bread a brown hue, the kids don’t notice anything different color-wise with their favorite treat. And because you are using over ripe bananas and sweet blueberries, you don’t need a lot of sugar.

Now we all have that straggler banana that hasn’t been eaten by anyone and we all know that over-ripe bananas make great banana bread. But, another trick I learned is to freeze those bananas until you are ready to bake with them. They turn black when in the freezer, but have no fear. When defrosted and peeled, the bananas flavor has really intensified.

I prefer using fresh blueberries with this recipe, because frozen ones tend to be smaller in size. The kids and I like having big chunks of blueberries in every bite of my banana bread.

Made as a loaf, muffins or in mini’s, these are a real kid pleaser. And Mom and Dad are pretty fond of them, too!

For this recipe and much more, check out Family Spice!

Blueberry-Banana Bread

1 cup blueberries
1 cup & 1 TBS unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat bran
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnnamon
1 cup mashed bananas
1/2 cup milk
6 TBS butter
1 large egg

1. Preheat oven to 350º.

2. In a small bowl mix:
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 TBS all-purpose flour

3. In a medium bowl sift:
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat bran
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

4. Using a stand mixer, whisk:
1 cup mashed ripe bananas*
1/2 cup milk
6 TBS butter, melted & cooled
1 large egg

5. In batches, add dry ingredients into wet, making sure everything is evenly distributed. The batter will be stiff.

6. Gently stir in blueberry mixture by hand.

7. Apply non-stick spray to a 9″x 5″ loaf pan, and pour batter inside.

8. Bake bread in oven for 60-70 mins., or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean.

9. Let the bread rest in the pan for 10 mins., then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool.