Banana Nut Bread!

I love banana bread and every time I buy bananas I always make sure I don't eat a few of them so they can become ripe for a banana bread. :) I have tried so many different recipes for banana bread and they either don't taste right or they are packed with calories and fat. I finally found one that was DELICIOUS and only packed 130 calories per slice/muffin! I can manage that! I found this recipe of course from, Skinny Taste (my favorite blog ever) and I couldn't wait to make it this morning for breakfast and realized last night that I was missing a few ingredients that I needed so I woke up early this morning, ran to Publix, and started baking. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do! :)

Banana Nut Bread (You would never know this is a healthier version!)
Makes 2 loaves (26 slices) or 1 loaf and 12 muffins
WW PointsPlus: 4pts/slice or muffin
Calories: 130/slice or muffin
*I also made a loaf without nuts. The Calories are 106 and the WW Pointsplus are 3.


Ingredients:
7 ripe medium bananas, mashed
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
2-1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
8 tbsp of Egg Beaters Egg Whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 oz (3/4 cup) chopped walnuts
2 tsp of cinnamon
PAM baking spray

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325°. Spray PAM on two 9x5 inch loaf pans or muffin pans.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt with a wire whisk. Set aside.

In a large bowl cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer.

Add egg whites, bananas, apple sauce and vanilla, and beat at medium speed until thick. Scrape down sides of the bowl.

Add flour mixture and walnuts, then blend at low speed until combined. Do not over mix.
Pour batter into loaf pans/muffin pans and bake on the center rack for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.




If you notice the really black bananas on the plate in my first picture, those are ripe bananas that I put in the freezer. If you don't have enough ripened bananas to make something, throw them in the freezer to use later. When you want to use the bananas in the freezer, set them out on a plate and let them thaw out. I did mine overnight. Cut the top off of the banana and squeeze the banana and the contents come right out! Very easy!


Using these bananas will make your bread or muffins a slightly darker color but doesn't change the taste one bit.