Banana and hemp seed bread

It is cold! Bone freezing, toes going numb kind of cold. And on cold days nothing makes a better Sunday afternoon treat than something cozy from the oven. This recipe is adapted from one of my all time favorite cookbooks "Wholefood" which has a wonderful range of vegetarian, vegan, gluten free recipes and the occasional meat based recipe. One of the things I love about this book and in fact all books by Jude Blereau is that the recipes are easily modified to suit different dietary needs or if not she will let you know not to bother trying. I have pretty much cooked my way from one end of Wholefood to the other and everything has come out perfectly and deliciously. I cant recommend this book more. 

This version of Jude's banana bread came about in two ways. Firstly I wanted to try making a vegan version of her cake and also I had run out of walnuts but had a fresh bag of delicious hemp seeds sitting on my bench. 

Apart from tasting great this cake/ bread will make your house smell incredible. Defiantly one to make if you want to get your family or guests excited before it even leaves the oven.

Banana and hemp bread- based on the banana cake recipe from "Whole food" by Jude Blereau 

1 cup white spelt flour
1 cup wholemeal spelt flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp dried ginger 
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup dates chopped
1/2 cup hemp seeds
3 very ripe bananas mashed
1 banana sliced
1 tbsp blackstrap molasses
6 tbsp coconut oil + a little extra to grease your tin
1/2 cup non dairy yogurt (I used coconut)
1 cup non dairy milk (I used almond) 

Lightly grease a loaf pan and set aside, preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Mix the flours, baking powder and spices together. Add the chopped dates and hemp seeds and make sure they are well combined. Add the mashed bananas, molasses, coconut oil, yogurt and milk and milk gently until just combined. Carefully fold through the sliced bananas.

Pop in the oven and bake for about 50 minutes. Carefully check, and if it requires it pop it back in for another 10 minutes of so. Allow to cool for about 10 before you tuck in. It is perfect still warm from the oven and freezes really well.