I wanted to make a Banana Bread that was full of flavor but not full of sugar. I started with a recipe from America's Test Kitchen and then altered it to be Sugar Free. This recipe is not fat free. What I got was an awesome Banana Bread that I can eat and share with anyone who wants to try it. I don't really miss the sugar. Splenda makes a great sugar substitute that adds sweetness but not the affects of sugar (for me the affects are major sleepiness). Which doesn't work very well when it's time to go to work or getting anything else done. So here is the recipe that I used. Hope you enjoy - Let me know if you try it (regular or SF) and what you think.
For best results, be sure to use a loaf pan that measures 9 inches long, 5 inches across, and 3 inches deep. —the Editors of Cook’s Illustrated
Banana Bread - with Sugar Free option
Makes one 9-inch loaf
Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan
1 1/4 cups walnuts, chopped coarse
3/4 cup sugar (if you want to make it Sugar Free than add 1 cup of Splenda instead of the sugar)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 very ripe, soft, darkly speckled large bananas, mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan; dust with flour, tapping out the excess.
2. Spread the walnuts on a baking sheet and toast until fragrant, 5 to 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
3. Whisk the flour, sugar (or Splenda), baking soda, salt, and walnuts together in a large bowl; set aside.
4. Mix the mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter, and vanilla with a wooden spoon in a medium bowl. Lightly fold the banana mixture into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula until just combined and the batter looks thick and chunky. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
5. Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. (The bread can be wrapped with plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.)
2 cups rolled oats (not instant) or 1 2/3 cups oat flour 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting and kneading 1 3/4 teaspoons baking soda 2 teaspoons kosher salt 1 3/4 cups buttermilk, plus more if needed, and 2T. for brushing Oats or mixed seeds - sesame, caraway, poppy, etc. Preheat the oven to 400°F with a rack in the middle of the oven. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside. To make the oat flour, use a food processor to pulse the rolled oats a few times. Then process into a fine powder - another minute or two. If you are buying oat flour, not making your own, measure out 1 2/3 cups. Wisk the flours, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the flour and pour in the buttermilk. Stir just until everything comes together into a dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured countertop and knead for 30 seconds or so, just long enough for the dough to come together into a cohesive, ball without many cracks or fissures. If your dough is on the dry side, add more buttermilk a small splash at a time. Now ease the dough ball onto the prepared cookie sheet. Brush all over the top and sides with buttermilk and sprinkle generously with mixed seeds, flour, or oats, 2 tablespoons or so. Slice a few deep slashes across the top of the dough. Bake for about 45-50 minutes, so the top of the bread gets nice and toasted. The bread will feel very solid and sound hollow when you knock on it. Carefully lift it off the cookie sheet, in a timely fashion, and allow to cool on a wire rack. If you can, let site for an hour to cool before eating... that's if you can wait that long. Enjoy with a good slathering of salted butter. Makes one loaf. Prep time: 10 min - Cook time: 50 min Recipe adapted from 101 Cookbooks
Ingredients 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon allspice small pinch of ground cloves small pinch of ground ginger 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1/2 cup brown sugar (or 3/4 cup Splenda to make Sugar Free) 2 small eggs or 1 large egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3/4 cup canned plain pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (optional) - if you are making the muffins Sugar Free, you will want to either use Sugar Free Chocolate Chips or eliminate them from the recipe.Directions- Preheat oven 350°F. Spray each cup in a 24-cup mini muffin tin with baking spray or butter generously.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and spices (through ginger). If using chocolate chips, add them to the dry ingredients once they have been combined. In a separate, large bowl whisk together oil, brown sugar (or Splenda), egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk until smooth. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined – do not over mix!
- Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. (Using a 2-tablespoon scoop will ensure uniform size.) Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove muffins from oven and cool for 2 minutes, or until just cool enough to handle in muffin pan.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 cups of Sugar (or to make it Sugar Free - use Splenda)
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts
3 cups apples chopped (I left mine unpeeled, but you can do it either way)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9"x13" pan
- In a medium-sized bowl, sift the flours, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
- In a large bowl, mix sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla until well blended. Beat the dry ingredients into the wet, just until blended; stir in nuts and apples.
- Bake for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in the pan; invert onto a rack to finish cooling.
photo credit: Flickr/Jocelyn | McAuliflower
INGREDIENTS- 2 cups organic milk (or part half and half, if feeling naughty; soy milk for a vegan version)
- 1 1/2 cup fresh pumpkin puree, or 1 15-ounce can
- 1 cup maple sugar or Sucanat (or you can use Splenda to make Sugar Free)
- 2 large organic eggs (or egg substitute for a vegan version)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 pinch of ground cloves
- 2 tablespoons bourbon or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 10 cups day-old bread cubes—challah, brioche, baguette, etc
- 1 cup (or more if you like) Greek yogurt, mascarpone or fresh whipped cream for garnish
DIRECTIONS- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Whisk milk pumpkin, maple sugar, eggs, spices and bourbon or vanilla in large bowl to blend. Fold in bread cubes.
- Let stand 15 minutes, then put pudding mixture in a 9-inch springform pan.
- Bake bread pudding until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes.
- Let cool. When ready to serve, run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the sides. Remove ring from pan.
- Top with a thick dollop of dairy, and sprinkle with candied pumpkin seeds.
INGREDIENTS:7 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant) 1 ¼ cups chopped walnuts 1/3 cup ground flaxseed 3/4 cup all-bran cereal 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 6 large egg whites ¾ teaspoon coarse salt 1 tablespoon Aleppo crushed peppers 1 1/2 cups Sugar (or Splenda if you want to make it sugar free) 1 cup cocoa ¾ cup honey (to make sugar free use sugar free honey) 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil DIRECTIONS:1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. In a bowl, combine oats, nuts (if using), all-bran, flaxseed, and cinnamon, cocoa, Splenda, and Aleppo. In another bowl, whisk together egg whites and salt until frothy. Add honey and oil, and whisk to combine. Stir into oat mixture until combined. 2. Spread mixture in even layers on two rimmed baking sheets. Bake 20 minutes; remove from oven, and use a spatula to gently flip the granola and move it from the outer edges to center (to brown evenly). Return to oven, and continue to cook until golden brown, about 10 minutes more. Cool completely on sheets, then transfer to a bowl.
| | 1 (15 oz.) Canned Solid Pumpkin
1 (12 oz.) Can Fat Free Evaporated Milk
1/2 Cup Egg Substitute
2 Tablespoons Fat Free Margarine Spread
1 Cup Splenda Granular
1/2 Cup Reduced Fat Bisquick
2 1/2 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 teaspoon Vanilla Flavoring
Fat Free Cool Whip (optional)
| In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin, milk, egg substitute, margarine spread, Splenda, Bisquick, pumpkin pie spice, and vanilla flavoring. Spray crockpot with non-stick butter flavored spray. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the crockpot, cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours. Serve in bowls with fat free cool whip if desired (for additional points).
Serves: 4
Per Serving: 185 Calories; 4g Fat (18.1% calories from fat); 10g Protein; 28g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 1mg Cholesterol; 221mg Sodium.
You can substitute out the Splenda for something else, but the calorie info will not match and it may be different measurements.
I get so excited when new fresh fruit is in season and on sale! I love stocking up on Blueberries, Raspberries, and Blackberries. Recently I made some Sugar Free Blueberry muffins! Oh they are YUMMY and full of blueberry flavor! Makes 12 muffins
Ingredients- 2 cups fresh blueberries (about 10 ounces), picked over
- 1 1/8 cups Splenda (8 ounces) plus 1 teaspoon (or you can use the same amount if using Sugar)
- 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces)
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 2 large eggs
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Bring 1 cup blueberries and 1 teaspoon Splenda to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing berries with spoon several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to ¼ cup, about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes. 2. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk remaining 11/8 cups Splenda and eggs together in medium bowl until thick and homogeneous, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture and remaining cup blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened. (Batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour; do not overmix.) 3. Use ice cream scoop or large spoon to divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly). Spoon teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Using chopstick or skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure-eight motion. 4. Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 19 minutes, rotating muffin tin from front to back halfway through baking time. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving. | | ---------- A NOTE ABOUT SPLENDA ----------
I know most people are not a fan of Splenda and you can definitely make these without the use of Splenda, just substitute with your sweetener of choice (the measurements might be different though). I personally use Splenda because I can not eat Sugar. I am still in the process of trying other sugar alternatives but since I live in a rural area I have to order them over the Internet since they only sell Splenda at our Lil market.
 INGREDIENTS1/4 cup almond milk, unsweetened (or your milk preference) 1/2 cup cottage cheese, low fat 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt 1 scoop whey protein powder, (chocolate flavored) unsweetened 1 large ripe banana 1 cup crushed ice DIRECTIONSAdd all of the ingredients into blender (except crushed ice). Once well blended add the crushed ice to the blender, blend until most of ice is broken up. Taste and add sweetener if needed. Enjoy immediately! Original recipe at Sugar Free Mom. I changed mine up a bit for my taste. Still Sugar Free and still very yummy!
I got to try out my new Zoku this afternoon! And what a perfect afternoon to have a cold and yummy treat! Here is what I used... 1 cup fresh blueberries 1/4 frozen raspberries 1 ripe banana 1 tbsp chia seeds 1 tbsp lime juice Almond milk to fill Once thoroughly blended in my Magic Bullet, I poured in the slots on the Zoku. And then followed the manufacturers instructions for wait time and extraction. In less than 20 minutes I had 6 fresh delicious Popsicles (2 batches at 8 mins a batch). One thing I will note for next time. I will add a little sweetner. Even though the liquid was spectacular, once frozen it was not as sweet... Something that has to do with taste buds and cold.
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