There is something very comforting about banana bread. I never get bored of its taste and the fact, that it’s so easy to prepare, makes it to one of my favourite sweet treats.

Every time I make it, I like adding some different ingredients such as nuts or chocolate chips to the main recipe to mix things up. This time, I added the Nutmad salted maple caramel walnuts, and it was a winner. The saltiness of the walnuts gave the sweet banana bread a really nice flavour, I think I’ll be making this again.

What I like about this particular easy banana bread recipe with walnuts is that there is no refined sugar used in it.

The sweetness comes from the maple syrup, the bananas and vanilla.

It’s a very easy bake that I sometimes also make in muffin forms since my kids find it easier to eat like this. Banana muffins are great because they’re already portioned. You can prepare them as a snack to go or if you have guests coming to tea.

Preferably, I use spelt flour, mixing plain and wholemeal. Spelt belongs to the ancient grains, which are known to be easier to digest, more nutritious and healthier than modern grains such as wheat.

This time I served the banana bread with lavender honey from Honey Heaven.

It’s a premium raw honey from Hungary, with a very light and pleasant lavender flavour. It’s the first time I try it, but I’m really impressed by how good it tastes.

I’m not surprised this particular product of their range won two stars Great Taste Award.

The honey should not be mixed in the dough since it can lose its nutritional qualities from the high temperature during the baking process. I scattered it over the pieces of banana bread after it had cooled down.

Here are the ingredients of my easy banana bread recipe with walnuts:

120g plain spelt flour
100g spelt wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
60g Nutmad salted maple caramel walnuts (halves or chopped)
100ml coconut oil, melted
40ml maple syrup (I prefer Clarks)
125g natural yoghurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
5 bananas, mashed or chopped in small pieces
(Optional: Decorate with 1 extra banana sliced in half)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C while you prepare the dough.
Combine the flour with the bicarbonate of soda in a large bowl.
If you want, you can sieve the flour beforehand.
Then add the wet ingredients one by one and mix well with the hand mixer.
When the dough is ready, add the walnuts and mix them through with a spoon. I use the walnut halves as they are in the bag, but if you prefer having chopped walnuts, you can chop them in a blender or mortar before adding them to the mixture. I’ve noticed that sometimes children don’t like bigger pieces of nuts in their banana bread.
Grease the tin first or lay with baking paper to avoid sticking. I use a silicone one, which doesn’t need greasing and it works really easy.
When all the ingredients are combined, pour the dough in the prepared tin loaf and decorate with the banana halves if you want.
Bake for about 50 minutes checking with a knife or skewer when it’s ready.
Let the banana bread cool down for about 10 minutes after it’s out of the oven, then leave it on a rack to cool completely.
When it’s cooled down, cut in slices and serve with some lavender honey. The banana bread itself is not very sweet, so you don’t need to worry that the honey could make it taste too sweet.

The combination of bananas, walnuts and honey is great. The sea salt from the walnuts and the lavender give this bake the final touch to a perfect flavour combination.

I’m glad I used some raw honey here not only because it tastes amazing, but it also has a lot of health benefits such as vitamins, minerals, and amounts of antioxidants and amino acids.

I try to use natural ingredients and natural sweeteners as much as possible in my cooking in general.

I’d like to keep my kids away from refined sugar and from overly sweet things. It is not possible to avoid sugar completely, but we’re trying at least to reduce it as much as possible.

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Easy Banana Bread Recipe with Walnuts