Peanut Butter and Banana loaf

Happy new year everyone and hope you all had a good Christmas. I thought it would be nice to start 2012 with a more wholesome recipe and although I wouldn't go as far as to say this one was healthy, it's certainly better for you than most of the sweet treats we've all been indulging in over the festive period! I've used smooth peanut butter but you can try chunky if you want some more texture. You can also leave out the spicing if you're not feeling it, or try other flavourings if you'd prefer (Just cinnamon, some rum or maybe even throw in some chocolate chips)!

Prep Time: 10 Minutes

Baking Time: 70-75 Minutes

4 Ripe Medium Bananas

125ml Agave Nectar Light Natural Sweetener

200g Natural Peanut Butter (The kind with no added sugar)

2 Large Eggs (Beaten)

1tsp Vanilla Extract

1tsp Mixed Spice

1tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

200g Plain Flour
A little oil or butter to grease the tin

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and grease/line the base of a 22cm loaf tin. In a large bowl mash the bananas roughly with a fork then stir through the agave nectar, followed by the peanut butter. I do it in this order as it means the bananas are nicely incorporated, yet still retain some texture which works out nice in the final loaf. Mix in the eggs and vanilla extract, followed by the mixed spice and bicarbonate of soda, then mix the whole lot together until you are left with a smooth batter, bejeweled with lumps of delicious banana!

Spoon into the prepared tin and bake in the centre of the oven for about 60 minutes, until the top is nicely golden and a metal skewer can be removed cleanly from the middle. You might find you have to cover with foil for the last 10 minutes if it starts to brown too much. Leave it to cool in the tin for 20 minutes or so, then turn it out onto a wire rack and let finish cooling on there. Yum yum all done!