so... i'm back. i'm on maternity leave after having twins in April so i have time to bake again.

I use stevia granulated sweetener/ but if you're not worried about sugar just use normal caster sugar

My first recipe back in the blogging saddle is an amazing banana bread with raspberries and dark chocolate.The best part, it's low fat and low in sugar. PERFECT.

Here is how it goes:

2 cups of plain flour
3/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of artificial sweetener                             
4 tablespoons of canola oil or margarine        
2 large eggs

Do not use vanilla essence & don't bother with vanilla bean paste. In this recipe it would just get lost

1 1/2 cups of ripe mashed banana (approx 3 large bananas)                   
1/3 cup of low fat vanilla yoghurt
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract                            
                                                                       
1 cup of dark chocolate chips
1 cup of whole frozen raspberries, dusted with 1 tablespoon of plain flour.




TIP: Double the recipe, it will disappear so quickly.
Also, I have decided to make this recipe as muffins rather than a loaf to help with portion control. I need all the help I can get. Otherwise this will make a standard loaf  tin (approx 21 x 11cm) sized banana bread.

Preheat the oven to 180℃.

As a busy mum of twins it can take several sessions to get a recipe done. So I like to prepare all parts of the recipe in advance so that when I'm ready all I have to do is throw together my already measured, mashed and sifted ingredients.

1. Sift the plain flour, baking soda and salt into a bowl, set aside.
2. In another bowl blend or mash the bananas with the yoghurt and vanilla extract, set aside.
3. In the bowl of your standing mixer measure out the stevia and canola oil and beat until pale and fluffy
4. With the beater still running add the eggs one at a time until well combined
5. Add the banana, yoghurt, vanilla mixture until well combined.
6. Now you can add the flour and combine using the stand mixer or by hand until just combined. Do not over beat the mixture as this will make the bread very dense instead of light and fluffy.                            
7. Next you can fold through the chocolate chips and very carefully fold through the raspberries.
8. If you are making a loaf of banana bread pour the mixture into a greased loaf tin, or if you are making muffin banana breads use a greased ice-cream scoop to fill lined muffin molds 3/4 full. (When I doubled the recipe the yield was 3 dozen muffins) 
9. For a loaf bake the cake for 50-60 minutes.
10.  For muffins bake for 30 minutes.