Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Pineapple Banana Bread

I don't know if you've noticed or not but I'm mentally already on vacation.  I changed my background to reflect my vacation state of mind and my food is leaning toward local cuisine.  The Mr and I were discussing how I wanted to find a really good homemade banana bread recipe because it stinks waiting to get to go to the Big Island just to find Auntie Helen's various banana breads.  I picked up some soft tofu on a mental dare and had no idea what I was going to do with it.  I started looking up recipes and came across a banana bread recipe using silken tofu and thought "what the hell."  We had a friend over for breakfast the other day to have loco moco and it was the perfect opportunity to try out the banana bread recipe.

What awaited me was something any home cook revels..."the look."  You know that look.  The eyeballs roll back in the person's head or in this case, our guest did a double take after taking a bite.  He said how good it was and as he was nearing the end of his first piece when I told him tofu was the secret he seemed intrigued and pleasantly surprised.  When he accepted some for the road, I knew I had a hit.  The Mr and I agreed this tasted exactly like Auntie Helen's banana bread which is our all time favorite!  The good thing is as you know, I like to tweak recipes to make them a little healthier than I found them and this easily fits into our calories!

Pineapple Banana Bread awaiting a nice slathering of Hawaiian Sun's Passion Fruit Jelly
Pineapple Banana Bread (adapted from Livestrong.com)

6 oz silken tofu
1 cup sugar (or brown sugar, packed depending on your tastes)
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract or the scrapings of the inside of one whole vanilla bean)
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup bananas, mashed
1/2 cup fresh pineapple, diced
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp Hain sodium free baking powder (you can find it at Whole Foods or other big box grocery stores)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice or Vietnamese cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, add the first six ingredients (from tofu to pineapple) and mix until combined.

In a larger bowl, add the next 5 ingredients (from flour to cinnamon) and mix them together until combined.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and combine with a rubber spatula.

Spray a loaf pan with some butter flavor cooking spray or the cooking spray of your choice and add the batter to the pan.

Smooth the batter and bake for 60-64 minutes until toothpick comes out completely clean.

Let the bread sit for 5 minutes before putting it on a wire rack to cool completely before slicing into 12 pieces.


Edible aloha.

Nutritional information per slice (1/12 loaf):  Calories 169  Total Fat 1g  Sodium 63mg  Potassium 98mg  Total Carbs 38g  Fiber 3g  Sugars 20g  Protein 4g  Vitamin C 5%  Iron 1%

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14 comments:

  1. Does this need to be refridgerated because of the pineapple? Do you have any idea how long it will keep? Do you know if it will freeze well?

    Did I ask enough questions?

    Looks damn good.

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  2. HA! Let's see, right now I have mine refrigerated but I'd say you'd be safe having it at room temp for 2-3 days as long as it's in an airtight container. If you have it in the fridge, 5-8 seconds in the microwave gets it back to room temp and 10-15 gives you that "cooled from the oven" temp.

    I haven't tried freezing this yet but I'm going to so I will update the post after I do. (I know we'll want some when we get back) But I know from past experience with baked goods as long as you wrap it tightly in a layer or two of plastic wrap then put it in a freezer bag with as much air sucked out of it as possible, you can store it for up to 3 months! YUM

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  3. That sounds really good! Next time I have a batch of bananas go all brown and icky I'll give it a try.

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  4. Yummy!!

    I have a recipe for a chocolate mousse pie that uses soft tofu. J to this day has no idea. lol

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  5. Sounds awesome! I've never used silken tofu for baking (but have used it in chocolate mousse and cook with firm tofu often) - I can't wait to try this one!

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  6. Looks and sound delicious. Do you think you could use canned pineapple that is in its own juice? Silken tofu--is that sold in a jar?

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  7. I can confirm that this tastes as wonderful as it sounds. And it tastes as great as the stuff we get in Hawaii so I am even happier about that. If you make this you will surely get all kinds of compliments!

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  8. Yes, you could use chunk pineapple or tidbits if you want that little bit of a bite or the crushed to add the flavor but a smoother texture. Don't add the juice though, the tofu already give a very moist texture so I think the extra moisture might make it too mushy.

    Silken tofu is in this carton/box like thing. It's usually in the 'health food' cold section of the big box stores or stores like Whole Foods usually have a whole tofu section with stuff like tofurkey (haven't even gone there! LOL) or shirataki noodles (which we have had and it's yummy!) As other commenters have said, you can use silken tofu for chocolate mousse. I haven't done that yet but its on my list!

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  9. Give me any type of banana bread and I am a happy camper - looks delicious!

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  10. I don't even like banana bread and want to try this... THANK YOU for sharing!

    {{{{{{{{{{{ HUGS }}}}}}}}}}}

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  11. That looks awesome! I would love to try it, but for the life of me I can't find whole wheat pastry flour. Our Kroger doesn't have it. :/

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  12. I have a fantastic, high-test banana bread recipe from Mom. This one looks really good. I am intrigued by the idea of pineapple and the other mods sound interesting- this will be tried!

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  13. Take me with you to Hawaii! I need a vacation! *sob* And if you can't take me with, at least send me some of this bread! It looks beautiful! I love that you have tofu in there--who would have guessed it?!

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  14. This looks really good. Hmmm I have some brown bananas right now....

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