A Little Bit Better Banana Bread

Everybody loves a good banana bread right?  I know  I always have, but for some reason I hardly ever make it.  Partly because there are a million recipes out there and I never know what one to use, or if I should add things to it etc.  I have been baking for many years, but never been comfortable enough to experiment much in fear of messing up a huge batch of something.  I finally bit the bullet and decided I would try to take a regular banana bread and make it a little bit healthier and more exciting without making it awful.  So, I started small making just a few little changes, and maybe next time I will go a little bit crazier!

A Little Bit Better Banana Bread

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 maka powder (this is not enough to change the taste if you are not a maca fan)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter (I was out of applesauce or I would have substituted it for the butter)
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup pecans chopped fine (I roasted mine, but not necessary)
• 6 mashed medium overripe bananas (I used 10 little mini peruvian bananas but I think its about the equivalent)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan. 
2. In a large bowl, combine flours, maca powder, rolled oats, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together butter, greek yogurt and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten, do not over-mix. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
3. Sprinkle the pecans evenly over the top.
4. Bake in preheated oven for about and hour, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto counter.
5. enjoy while it is still warm with some butter or something healthier like peanut butter or nutella.  Try not to eat it all because it is even better the next day!