Crackly Banana Bread

Found the recipe on The Smitten Kitchen.

The crackle comes from uncooked millet, a seed that can be cooked like a grain in pilafs, but here is left crunchy. It’s sold in health food, speciality stores and many larger ones (found mine at Whole Foods).  Me, too.  If you don’t have it and don’t want to seek it out, however, the recipe absolutely works without it and makes a delightful, wholesome spin on banana bread with no less deliciousness than the original.

I suspect a gluten-free flour mix would work well here, but didn’t test it out in my kitchen. If you’d like to play around a mix of whole-grain flours would make a lovely partial swap too (perhaps some rye, buckwheat or barley flours).  100% whole wheat worked out great.  Not heavy.

3 large ripe-to-over-ripe bananas
1 large egg
1/3 cup (80 ml) virgin coconut oil, warmed until it liquefies, or olive oil
1/3 cup (65 grams) light brown sugar
1/4 to 1/3 cup (60 to 80 ml) maple syrup (less for less sweetness, of course)
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
Salt

1 1/2 cups (180 grams) white whole-wheat flour (or flour mixture of your choice, see Note up top)
1/4 cup (50 grams) uncooked millet
Preheat your oven to 350°F and butter a 9×5-inch loaf pan. In the bottom of a large bowl, mash bananas with a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon until virtually smooth but a few tiny lumps remain. Whisk in egg, then oil, brown sugar, syrup and vanilla extract. Sprinkle baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves over mixture and stir until combined. Stir in flour until just combined, then millet.
Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake until a tester comes out clean, about 40 to 50 minutes. Cool loaf in pan on rack.

Strawberry raspberry vanilla quick jatm

Makes about 1 1/2 cups jam

Adapted from Martha Stewart

1 pound fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced thickly

1/2 pound fresh raspberries (just over 1 cup of berries)

vanilla bean scraped of its seeds, pod reserved

1/2 cup granulated sugar

juice of 1 lemon

Place strawberries, raspberries, vanilla bean scrapings, and vanilla bean pod in a medium saucepan.  Add sugar and lemon juice.  Place over medium heat and stir occasionally.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until fruit has broken down and liquid has thickened.  This jam won’t thicken like a store-bought jarred jam.  It will be a loose jam that will thicken slightly as it cools in the fridge.  The consistency of this jam is somewhere in between a thick jam and a fruit syrup.

Once jam has thickened, remove from heat and place in one large or two small jars.  Cover and place in the refrigerator to cool completely.  Jam will last up to 10 days covered and sealed in the refrigerator.