Experimental Banana Oatmeal Loaf Thing

I know I promised a recipe from Nigella– and believe me, I have one picked out and everything– but rest assured, neither is this another Martha recipe. Like Amanda, I felt inspired by Joy the Baker’s recent Oatmeal Blueberry Applesauce Muffins. I originally wanted to make these into apple-chai muffins– I tried and fell in love with Starbuck’s new Apple-Chai Infusion last week– but when I went in search of cardamom at the grocery store, I discovered that it was far too expensive for a college student in the middle of buying 4958381 books for this semester. Nixed that plan.

But this morning I really, really wanted to bake these muffins. Alas, I have neither applesauce nor blueberries in my house at the moment. However, I did have two browning bananas that were begging to be baked into something yummy. Hmmm… As I began to throw together these muffins with what I had on hand, I realized by the time I finished with this recipe it would only have a passing resemblance to Joy the Baker’s.

My full list of substitutions? Mashed up bananas instead of applesauce, dried cranberries instead of blueberries (plus some walnuts that have been sitting around in my pantry for a while), vanilla yogurt instead of buttermilk (plus a splash of milk because the batter seemed too thick), and honey instead of oil. I completely left out the brown sugar, because let’s be honest, this was going to be plenty sweet without it. I also upped the cinnamon a little and dashed in some nutmeg. On top of all that, I decided I didn’t feel like washing out all my awesome silicone muffin cups when this was all over, so I put it in my yet-to-be-used but oh-so-adorable loaf pan. And crossed my fingers.

Despite all my misgivings, my loaf came through. Moist, fluffy, and full of banana-cranberry-walnut goodness! I was wrong about it being sweet, though; I would probably add 1/4 cup brown sugar if I ever make this recipe again… which, to be honest, I just might, considering it’s a bit healthier than most banana bread recipes. I don’t mind it’s lack of sweetness as it is, though; it will be perfect to grab for breakfast on my way out the door to classes next week (if it lasts that long)!

Banana Oatmeal Loaf
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/4 old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
dash of nutmeg (approx. 1/8 teaspoon)
2 medium-largeish bananas, mashed
1/2 cup light vanilla yogurt
2 tablespoons honey
1 large egg
splash of milk, as needed
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350*. Combine dry ingredients (flour through nutmeg) in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together remaining ingredients except cranberries and walnuts. Fold dry ingredients into wet. Stir in cranberries and walnuts gently. Pour mixture into loaf pan. Bake about 45 minutes, or until lightly browned and knife comes out clean.

*I started this loaf at 375 and baked it for 20 minutes based on Joy’s muffin recipe. Well these are not muffins, and my experimental loaf thing was not done. After some quick research I discovered that all the banana bread recipes I found called for the loaf to be baked at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour. So I dropped the temperature on the oven to 350 and my poor abused loaf was done after another 25 minutes.