I’ve always wanted to bake something healthier but looks equally guilt- triggering. And after my post- exam horrors, its time to do some BAKING.
I replaced the butter from Emiline’s recipe with 3/4 its amount of applesauce and an extra tablespoon of yogurt. Because of this, it lacks the buttery texture but I’m pleased to say that it is much more moist than the original version. I also reduced the amount of chocolate chips and sugar because I used a baking pan that’s deeper but smaller in area. (which meant 30 minutes of extra baking. Don’t do this. The wonderful sweet aroma will poison you with extreme hunger)
The next time I make it, I’ll definitely sub. 1/2 cup of flour with the same amount of oatmeal to further healthify it. Feel free to completely substitute all the flour with oatmeal for a gluten- free recipe.
Healthified Banana Coffee Cake with Cinnamon-Chocolate Chip Streusel
(okay… I agree its a pretty long name…) Makes 8 servings
Adapted from Back to the Cutting Board
Ingredients
(Batter)
| Baking powder | 1 tsp |
| Baking soda | 1 ¼ tsp |
| Flour | 1 ½ cup |
| Salt | ¾ tsp |
| Applesauce | 6 tbs |
| Large egg | 1 |
| Sugar | ¾ cup |
| Plain yogurt | 3 tbs |
| Mashed very ripe Bananas | 1 1/3 cup/ 3 large/ 8 small |
Note*: Your bananas must be EXTREMELY ripe—black all over. If yours isn’t, you can nuke your bananas in a microwave oven/electric oven for 5 minutes at 200°C (or lower depending on how ripe your banana is)
Method:
1. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl
2. Beat the sugar and egg with an electric mixer till fluffy (no need to reach foamy stage). Beat in the mashed bananas, applesauce and yogurt. Add in dry ingredients 1/3 at a time and mix well to form uniform mixture.
(Topping/Filling)
| Chocolate chips | ½ cup |
| Raisins (Not in picture) | ¼ cup |
| Cinnamon | 2 tbs |
| Brown sugar | ½ cup |
Instructions:
Mix all topping ingredients together. It is okay to leave chunks of brown sugar, as long as you don’t leave the cinnamon in clumps.
To finish
| Applesauce | 1 tbs (or more depending on size of pan) |
| Cocoa powder | 1 tbs (or more depending on size of pan) |
3. Use your CLEAN fingers or a pastry brush to spread some applesauce on the interior of the baking pan
4. Using a sieve, or your fingers, sift/ sprinkle the cocoa powder to cover all the spread applesauce. (Applesauce ≈ butter & Cocoa powder ≈ flour)
5. Use a medium sized ladle to spoon half the batter into the baking pan
6. Sprinkle with half of topping.
7. Spoon the remaining batter over the topping in step 6 and sprinkle the remaining topping
8. Bake “coffee cake” until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 45- 75 minutes depending on depth of pan. Let it cool for at least 10 minutes before gobbling.
a dessert diet 