Banana & Coconut Loaf

First up, apologies for the shoddy quality of these pictures - they were taken in a hurry on my phone, but trust me, look past the graininess and run with me on this one; it's possibly the best cup of tea accompaniment in the world.

It's clean, comforting and sweet enough to satisfy your cravings, making it an ideal snack and pick me up for winter's arrival. 

To make 10 slices, you'll need;

• 2 free range eggs
• 2 ripe, mashed bananas
• 50g raisins 
• 20g dates (about 4 dates)
• 50g cashew nuts
• 20g Meridian 100% peanut butter
• 55g ground almonds
• 30g oats
• 1 tablespoon organic coconut oil
• Desiccated coconut to sprinkle on top

You could easily swap out the cashews for pecans / almonds / a nut of your choice, and the raisins for other dried fruit - I was just using what I had in the cupboard.

Pre-heat the oven to 180.

Crush your cashew nuts (or lightly chop them, depending on how chunky you want your pieces), and mix with chopped raisins and dates. 

In a mixing bowl, add this mixture to your bananas, eggs, ground almonds, oats, coconut oil and peanut butter. Mix the batter until everything is blended.

Line a baking tin with coconut oil, and pour your mixture in. Sprinkle your coconut (lavishly) on top. 

Cook in the oven for 20 minutes. The outside should be crisp and golden, the inside moist and cakey. 

It's the nicest alternative to cake I've tried so far!

PS - this recipe is really similar to the oat and peanut butter bars I made last week - it's the ground almonds in this that give it its cake texture.