While February 23 is National Banana Bread Day, warm, delicious banana bread is – in our opinion – a great treat any time, especially on frigid winter days. Made with simple, wholesome ingredients, including eggs, bananas, and kefir, banana bread is an awesome last-minute dessert that can actually be good for you! Our recipes rely on the natural sugars in very ripe bananas (the riper, the better) for a loaf that isn’t too sweet, but still seems decadent. We have multiple banana bread recipes, all great for the gut.
All of our recipes will fill your house with that signature warm banana bread scent and fill your tummies with absolute joy. Made with wholesome, clean ingredients, the kefir recipes boost the bread giving it protein, calcium, and vitamin D.
So enjoy dessert and the peace of knowing you’re giving your body quality ingredients like Lifeway Kefir made with love and care. Enjoy!
Golden Turmeric Kefir/Oat Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup Low-Fat Madagascar Vanilla Lifeway Kefir
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or GF alternative
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar or light brown sugar
- 3 ripe medium bananas, mashed well
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. turmeric powder
- 1 tsp. ginger powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips, plus some for topping
- ¼ cup sliced almonds, chopped walnuts and/or pecans
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350. Spray a baking pan with cooking spray to coat.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, butter and both sugars. Thoroughly combine mashed bananas, kefir, eggs and vanilla. Fold flour mixture into wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Add in chocolate chips gently.
- Scatter batter with sliced almonds and a few chocolate chips on top of the bread.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until bread is light golden brown and are springy to the touch. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.
- Keep bread in an airtight container for 4-5 days.
Vanilla Kefir Banana Bread
Servings:1 loaf
Ingredients
- 3-4 medium or large bananas
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp Madagascar Vanilla Lowfat Kefir
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 6 Tbsp butter, cold
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- In a small bowl, mash bananas, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and ground cinnamon.
- In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in eggs and beat until mixed.
- To the wet ingredients, sift in flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir until just combined. Add in kefir (or oat) and stir.
- Pour in mashed bananas, and mix until combined.
- Crumb Topping: Combine cinnamon, flour, and brown sugar. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter, and mix until the topping looks like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle coating evenly over the batter.
- Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean with just a few moist crumbs stuck to it.
- Enjoy!
Lifeway Kefir Banana Bread
- 1 ⁄ 2 cup Lifeway Lowfat Plain Kefir (+ more if needed)
- 3 eggs
- 4 Tbsp unsalted organic butter, at room temperature
- 1 1 ⁄ 2 cups very ripe mashed bananas
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 ⁄ 2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 3 ⁄ 4 cup coarsely slivered almonds
Directions
- Preheat an oven to 350°F and prepare a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan, either by greasing and lightly flouring, or by lining with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside
- In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Slowly add the eggs one at a time, followed by the bananas, and beat to combine. Finally, add in kefir and give a final mix until everything is thoroughly blended.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the liquid bowl. Beat until batter just comes together (some lumps are ok). Fold in almonds.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and top with additional slivered almonds. Bake at 350°F for 50-55 minutes, or until top is brown. At this point, place a knife into the center of the loaf. If it comes out clean, the loaf is done. If not, cover the loaf with aluminum foil (to prevent burning) and place back in the oven for 5-15 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
- Remove loaf from the oven and let rest at least ten minutes before serving. Be sure to have friends around to share.