Almond Praline Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread
Ingredients
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Ingredients ✴
Almond Praline Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread:
1 cup caster sugar, divided
¾ cup toasted flaked almonds
2 medium very ripe bananas, peeled
2 large free-range eggs
½ cup rice bran or canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups self-raising flour
½ teaspoon each baking soda & flaky sea salt
200g good-quality milk or dark chocolate, roughly chopped
2 Tbsp Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 Tbsp boiling water
Coffee Icing:
1 cup icing sugar
¼ tsp flaky sea salt
2-3 Tbsp strong espresso (see tip)
To Serve (optional):
Ripe baby bananas, peeled & cut in half lengthwise
Salted butter, for frying
Maple syrup, for cooking & drizzling
Unsweetened full-fat Greek yoghurt
Directions
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Directions ✴
Preheat your Panasonic microwave oven on the convection setting to 170°C. Grease and line a 23cm x 12cm loaf tin with baking paper.
Almond Praline Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread: Line a small chopping board with baking paper. Add ½ cup of the caster sugar to a small, non-stick pan. Shake the pan to distribute sugar into an even layer. Place on medium-high heat and cook undisturbed for about 2 minutes, until the sugar starts to melt and caramelise. Stir gently and cook for a further 20 seconds, until all the sugar has melted and it is a dark caramel colour. Quickly add the almonds and toss to coat. Immediately transfer to the lined chopping board and spread into a flat layer. Sprinkle over a pinch of flaky salt and set aside to set. Once set, roughly chop the praline into chunks. Set aside in an airtight container.
Add the bananas, eggs, caster sugar, oil and vanilla to the Panasonic cooking blender. Blend on low speed (with no heat) for about 30 seconds, until mostly smooth with a few small chunks. Add the flour, baking soda and salt and blend again on speed 3 (with no heat) for about 5 seconds, or until the flour is just incorporated. Fold through the chocolate chunks and about two-thirds of the almond praline.
Transfer about half of the batter to a bowl and set aside. Whisk the cocoa and boiling water together in a small bowl to form a paste. Stir the cocoa paste through one half of the batter, until just combined. Alternate dolloping large spoonsfuls of the regular batter and cocoa batter into the prepared loaf tin.
Bake on the lower-middle oven rack for about 45-55 minutes, or until very golden brown on top and risen. A skewer inserted should come out mostly clean, with a few moist crumbs. Set the loaf aside in the tin to cool for about 10 minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Coffee Icing: Add the icing sugar to a small mixing bowl. Add the espresso, starting with 2 tablespoons, along with the salt. Whisk together until smooth and creamy, adding more espresso as needed to achieve a very thick but pourable consistency. Pour the icing on top of the cooled loaf and spread out over the top. Sprinkle over the remaining almond praline and a pinch of flaky sea salt, if desired. Store the loaf in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
To Serve (optional): Heat a knob of butter in a non-stick frying pan on medium-high heat. Add the bananas to the pan and cook for about 2 minutes on each side, until caramelised. Drizzle over a little maple syrup and turn to coat the bananas. Serve a slice of banana bread topped with a dollop of Greek yoghurt and the caramelised bananas
Tip* If you don’t have a coffee machine, use 1 heaped tsp instant coffee granules dissolved in 3 Tbsp hot water.