Mr S was 6 in December. The poor kid never got to try a banana until well after his first birthday. A cyclone wiped out the crops so bananas were crazy expensive. He makes up for it now though, bananas are his go to fruit.
Right now, if the action in your fruit bowl is anything like mine is those bananas you bought on Saturday are probably turning spotty already. I have actually been buying lots of them because there are still plenty of Aussie bananas to be found cheaply at my market and they are perfectly kid sized. However, mandarins are also in season and 3 out of 4 children in my house choose mandarins over bananas.
With my weekend's baking efforts exhausted I needed to whip something up last night for today's lunchboxes. I made these chocolate banana brownies a couple of weeks ago but didn't write down the recipe, they were good but the small taste testers report that this batch is better. These babies are gluten, dairy and nut free.
I like using coconut flour with bananas because it's dryness works well in such a wet mix. Likewise, there is enough moisture from the bananas and eggs that I didn't see the need for butter or coconut oil. They work out to around 120 calories each so they are very satisfying if you are watching your numbers.
Chocolate Banana Brownies - Makes 12
Ingredients
500g-ish bananas
4 eggs
100g honey
1/4 cup raw cacao
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder
Sunflower seeds to sprinkle on top
Method
Mash the bananas and mix with the eggs and honey until well combined, I just throw them in the kenwood with the paddle and turn it on.
Add the cacao and mix until just combined.
Mix in the coconut flour and baking powder.
Pour into a lined baking tray and smooth out.
Sprinkle the sunflower seeds over the top and bake at 170C for about 30 minutes.
Turn on to a cooling rack and leave to cool.
Whilst the brownies used up a fair stash of the bananas I still had more to go so I decided to see how whipping it with some fresh ricotta would go. Turns out it was just about one of the best kitchen experiments I have had for a while. I had to hold myself back from eating a second bowl.
If you need a quick dessert for any reason, this is your new go to when bananas are in season, it would be easy to jazz up more by adding some chopped dark chocolate or making it summer in a bowl with sliced fresh pineapple and some toasted coconut chips. Yum.
Banana Ricotta with Almonds - Serves 4
Ingredients
500g Ricotta
300g-ish bananas (peeled weight)
1 Tbs honey
60g almonds, toasted
Method
Put the ricotta, bananas and honey in a bowl and mix with electric beaters or with the whisk attachment of your mixer until it is nice and smooth. If you are using your mixer you will probably have to scrape down the sides a couple of times.
To begin with it looks a bit grainy but the longer you beat it the smoother it becomes keep going for a couple of minutes until it has a silky texture.
Spoon into serving bowls and top with chopped toasted almonds, or whatever you want.
It is that easy.
Which do your kids pick first from the fruit bowl, mandarins or bananas or something else entirely?
Tatum xx
