Tuesday Temptations: Banana bread with blueberries

I absolutely love baking and seem to have a real gift with the blueberry themed delights! Blueberries add so much to a banana loaf. In addition to the berry flavour, they almost make the banana bread even more moist, without letting it lose the texture. Biting a slice of banana bread with blueberries is very much like having a slice of a berry cake: juicy and fruity, but without all the butter. 

A couple of things to note with this one:
1. The nuts element is entirely optional. (I personally wouldn't because my 2 year old sister is highly allergic to nuts)
2. The key to a moist and flavourful banana bread is to use very ripe bananas. Wait until they turn black on the outside and are really soft to the touch. When peeled, such bananas are still white inside but very soft and mushy, not really holding their banana shape. Mashing such bananas with a fork is very much like stirring a smoothie: effortless! That’s when bananas are at their sweetest, granted they don't look particularly edible from the outside!

Banana bread with blueberries

Total time: 1 hour

Adapted from Simply Recipes.

Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup Greek yogurt
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup blueberries

1) Preheat the oven to 350 F.

2) In a large bowl, mix mashed bananas, Greek yogurt and melted butter, using wooden fork or spoon. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix just enough to blend the ingredients; do not over-mix, the lumps will work themselves out.

3) Add chopped walnuts (optional...I think you get the gist now) and whole blueberries to the batter and mix them in to distribute evenly through the batter.

4) Butter a 4×8 inch loaf pan. Line the bottom of the pan with grease proof paper, butter the paper too. Pour the batter in the pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Note: lining the bottom of the pan with grease proof paper ensures that the bottom of the bread will not get stuck.