Chai Banana Bread (1 loaf)

• 1 cupwhole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup unbleached flour
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground cardamom
• ½ tsp. cinnamon
• ¼ cup melted butter or canola oil
• ½ cup maple syrup
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (two medium)
1/2 cup strongly brewed Indian chai, cooled to room temperature

Mix together dry ingredients in large bowl. In second bowl, whisk together oil, maple syrup, egg, vanilla, mashed bananas and chai. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix well.

Pour into 9x5 oiled loaf pan with oiled parchment paper on the bottom of pan. Bake at 350* for aprox. 50 minutes until a toothpick poked in the middle comes out dry. Remove from oven to cooling rack, let cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and peel parchment paper off bottom of bread. Let cool before slicing and serving.

This is moist bread so it should be stored in the refrigerator but served at room temperature.

Variations

Zucchini Bread : substitute 1 cup grated zucchini for banana, and 2 teaspoons cinnamon, ½ tsp. nutmeg for above spices.

Pumpkin Bread: substitute 1 cup pumpkin puree for banana, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ginger, ½ tsp. nutmeg, ¼ tsp. grd. cloves for spices, and 3 tablespoons unsulphured molasses and 1/3 cup maple syrup instead of ½ cup maple syrup.

Substitutions

To use all whole grain flour, use 2 cups of whole wheat bread flour rather than whole wheat pastry flour for the best texture.