Banana Bread Review 3 - Crossroads

I got this book for Christmas and have always loved the recipes from Tal Ronnen so I was really exited to try this recipe.

Taste = 1.5/3
The banana bread tasted OK however it was flavoured with banana, cinnamon and vanilla so it should have tasted great but didn't - it was just a basic banana bread. Nice but not special

Texture = 1.5/2
The bread had a strange texture, kind of claggy. It wasn't bad just unusual

Ease of Preparation  = 1/2
I was quite impressed on how quick this was to make, it needed flax eggs but was still oven ready in about 35 minutes

Freezes Well = 1/1
Froze and defrosted really well

Cost = 0.5/1
This didn't use any really weird ingredients but did need flax seeds which I didn't have

Healthy? 1/1
I have given this full marks from a health point of view as although it contained quite a bit of oil it didn't use much sugar

Total Score 6.5/10

Overall this was a basic banana bread. Could have been so much better

Banana Bread Review 2 - Thug Kitchen

This is a cookbook that I have never cooked from so I had no idea if this would be good or not. This I what I thought:

Taste = 2/3

The recipe at first didn’t taste like much, I think I was expecting it to be sweet and jam packed with flavour which it isn’t, however after having a few pieces it really grew on me. The only sweetness in the recipe is from banana and maple syrup, there is no added sugar so it wasn’t very sweet, it was almost savoury which makes it perfect if you want to pair it with something like chocolate spread or peanut butter. It was a refreshing change to make a banana bread that was more like bread than cake, I think however it could have been improved with a bit more cinnamon

Texture = 2/2

The texture of this bread is outstanding, it has the consistency of a good quality bread. It was perfect

Ease of Preparation = 2/2

This recipe calls for oat flour, even though you can buy it the recipes stated it can be made by throwing oats in a food processor which I did. Even spending time doing this I still managed to get it in the oven in 30 minutes

Freezes Well = 1/1

The texture and taste was the same after freezing as it was before

Cost = 1/1

All the ingredients needed were in the cupboard, including the oats so full marks

Healthy? 1/1

With no added sugar, oats, whole-wheat flour and very little oil this recipe ticks the healthy box as well

Total 9/10

This recipe was almost perfect, the texture was brilliant, the taste was quite good, its healthy, cheap and easy to make.

If all the recipes in Thug kitchen are like this it going to make a massive fan out of me

Banana Bread Review 1 - Happy Herbivore

I have made this recipe several times in the past and have always liked it, its a simple recipe and I remember at some point changing some of the flour for cocoa powder to make chocolate banana bread which worked really well. Some of my non vegan family also enjoyed this so I decided this would be the first recipe to review

Taste = 2/3
The recipe uses a good combination of banana, maple syrup, some sugar (recipe called for raw but I used demerara), vanilla and spices. It was sweet but not too sweet and really hit the spot

Texture = 1/2
It had the texture of rubber. However I still gave the recipe 1 point because when I made this in the past the texture was much better, I think the issue this time was that the bananas I used were slightly bigger which made the recipe too moist. The recipe is normally moist anyway because its covered when baking, so this time it ended up being gummy but it was still enjoyable, tasty and I've had success with it in the past

Ease of Preparation  = 2/2
This was quick and simple, in the oven in less than 30 minutes

Freezes Well = 1/1
Every time I have made this it freezes brilliantly and tastes the same as it did fresh

Cost = 1/1
I had all the ingredients for this in the house, maple syrup is pretty expensive but other than that this was very cheap to make

Healthy? 1/1
The recipe used banana, maple syrup and sugar but not huge amounts of any, it didn't taste too sweet, didn't have lots of salt, had no added fat and used wholewheat flour.

Total Score 8/10

This is a really good recipe, very adaptable, cheap, easy and freezes well. A good all rounder!

Welcome to the Chronicles of Banania!

Its been a long time since I have used this blog but I have decided this year to rename it and my cooking aim this year/next year is to cook every banana bread recipe from every vegan cookbook I own.

I'm going to be giving each recipe a score based on the following categories

Taste - up to 3 points
0 points = terrible
1 point = OK
2 points = good
3 points = excellent

Texture - up to 2 points
0 points = terrible
1 point = good
2 points = outstanding

Ease/preparation time (not including cooking time)  - up to 2 points
0 points = over an hour
1 point = 30 minutes to 1 hour
2 points = less than 30 mins

Freezes well
0 points = No
1 point = Yes

Cost
0 points if I had to buy weird/expensive ingredients
1 point if I didn't

Healthy. This is a weird one to categorize, but basically if it has a lot of added sugar/salt/fat (by fat I mean bucket loads because a of bit fat is good for us) then 0 points, 1 point if it doesn't

First recipe up is going to be the banana bread from Happy Herbivore