Banana Date Loaf

This is a super delicious easy to make banana bread recipe and you can sub out dates for what ever you want really.

Didn’t last long enough to take a good picture! Sorry but not sorry! 😂

Dry ingredients

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarb soda

1/2 tsp salt

Wet ingredients

76g butter (or about 1/3 cup)

50g - 100g dates chopped and soaked (up to you how many you want to use

2 large or 4 small overripe bananas

1 egg

1/4 cup boiling water

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

Preheat oven to 160° celsius fan forced (350f).

Prepare a loaf tin using either baking paper or butter the edges and bottom and dust lightly with flour to prevent sticking.

Soak chopped dates in boiling water along with half the bicarb soda. Let it soak for atleast 10 minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

1/4 cup boiling water

50g - 100g dates - the more dates you add the less sugar you have have to use

1/2 tsp bicarb soda

Cream together the butter, sugar and bananas.

76g butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 large or 4 small overripe bananas

Add the egg and vanilla essence to the creamed butter and mix till well combined.

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla essence

In a separate bowl sift the flour, baking powder, remaining bicarb soda and salt together. Make sure to stir all the ingredients till they are very well combined.

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Fold the flour, milk and dates into your creamed sugar and butter mix.

Include the date syrup, don’t discard this.

1/2 cup milk

Bake for around 50-55 minutes and check with a toothpick, if it comes out clean it’s ready to be taken out the oven.

Let it sit in the loaf tin to cool. Enjoy!

This banana bread is super easy to make and a great activity to get the kids involved in learning to bake! Just make sure you handle all the oven work.

The reason I love this recipe is because its so versatile, you can substitute the dates with essentially any fruit you want or even choc chips, nuts, or have naked banana bread. Just try have around 3/4 liquid. I use boiling water to make sure the dates are soft, you can use regular water, milk, cream, juice from canned fruit, whatever you hand on hand. This is a great way to use up any fruit you want, therefore reducing waste. I’ve made blueberry ones that had 1/3 cup sugar instead and it was also delicious, so change to suit your needs.