Chai Tea Banana Bread
One of the things that I love about living in Florida is that we can actually grow all sorts of fruits on trees right in our backyard. We have neighbors with mango trees, avocado trees, lime trees and orange trees. However, the one fruit that was missing from our neighborhood bounty was bananas. So, a few years ago we took the kids to a local nursery and picked one out, then came home and planted it. That little tree that we nurtured (okay my husband nurtured and the rest of us kind of forgot about it) has grown enormously and produced its first bananas just about a month ago. Seriously, there were SO many, even after distributing a share to all our neighbors we still had more than we could ever eat. So, I began to think of a few recipes that I could make with them.
As fall was quickly approaching, and being a HUGE chai tea fan, I thought it might be interesting to try a new twist on an old favorite – banana bread.
Start by pre-heating the oven to 350 and then here’s what you will need for this recipe:
4 ripe bananas
2 packets of chai tea
3/4 cups white all purpose flour
3/4 cups whole wheat flour
(you can use all white or all wheat based on your personal preferences)
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
Peel and mash up the bananas with a fork and then add the coconut oil, honey, vanilla, egg and brown sugar. Use a handheld mixer on medium to blend the ingredients together. Next add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and 3/4 cup wheat flour, using the mixer on low blend until smooth and then add the white flour and repeat.
The last step is adding the tea. You will want to cut open two tea bags and then add the tea to the mixture.
I realize this may sound odd to some people, but I promise you it works well and there is nothing gritty about the final product at all.
Pour the mixture into a loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees fro 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and the top is browned.
Now, because I also have a pretty terrible sweet tooth, I thought this recipe would be even better with a Maple Glaze on top. If you’d like to add the glaze (totally up to you), here’s what you will need:
2 Tbsp maple syrup
2 Tbsp Milk
1 cup powdered sugar
I always find working with powdered sugar can be a bit tricky. So, you may need to add an extra tsp of milk if it is too thick or a little more powdered sugar if it is too watery.
Once the bread has finished cooking allow it to cool completely and then drizzle the glaze over it in a back and forth pattern. Slice and serve warm with a cup of chai tea or whatever else suits your fancy. You can store the bread with the glaze in an airtight container for a couple of days and it holds up pretty well. However, if you want it to last longer, then you may not want to glaze the entire loaf. If you omit the glaze you can also freeze any leftover bread in slices and then just warm in the microwave for about 30 seconds as great snack.
- 4 ripe bananas
- 2 packets of chai tea
- ¾ cups white all purpose flour
- ¾ cups whole wheat flour
- (you can use all white or all wheat based on your personal preferences)
- ½ cup coconut oil
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cups brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Maple Glaze:
- 2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
- 2 Tbsp Milk
- 1 Cup Powdered Sugar
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Peel and mash up the bananas with a fork and then add the coconut oil, honey, vanilla, egg and brown sugar. Use a handheld mixer on medium to blend the ingredients together. Next add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ¾ cup wheat flour, using the mixer on low blend until smooth and then add the white flour and repeat.
- The last step is adding the tea. You will want to cup open two tea bags and then add the tea to the mixture. Pour the mixture into a standard loaf pan and then bake in the oven at 350 degrees for approx. 60 minutes or until a knife/toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the loaf is well-browned.
- While the loaf is baking you can mix the glaze by combining the maple syrup, milk and powdered sugar. I find powdered sugar can be a bit tricky, so you may need to add an extra tsp of milk if it is too thick or a little bit more powdered sugar if it is too watery.
- Once the loaf is fully cooled, drizzle the glaze over the bread in a back and forth motion. Serve warm with a mug of chai tea or whatever sounds good to you. Store in an airtight container for up to two days. If you want to store longer omit the glaze. You can even freeze the bread in slices for up to three months and then microwave a slice for 30 seconds for an anytime quick snack.
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This is amazing! I will definitely be trying this. Looks so yummy! Great flavor combo.Thanks for sharing with us at Your Designs This Time.
Emily & Erin
What a great twist to a favorite banana bread! It looks great and I am going to have to try it. 🙂 Thanks for linking up to the Click and Chat party!
Wow! Your recipe sounds amazing! I love Chai Tea and Banana Bread, I would never have thought about combining the two! Thank you for sharing at the click and Chat Link up party! Have a great week, Kim @ This Ole Mom
Thanks for coming and linking up at The Weekend Social. Please be sure to come back next week starting Thursdays at 9PM EST The Midnight Baker ! I hope to see you there!
Judy@ http://www.bakeatmidnite.com
Are you sure you didn’t make this JUST for me? Chai tea is my favorite tea of all the teas! Pinning so I can MAKE THIS SOON!
Yum! Using this for sure the next time bananas come in my Annie’s Organic Co-Op pick up!
This looks fantastic! My husband is a banana bread lover, and he also loves chai tea, so I think he would really enjoy this banana bread. As soon as the bananas get a little too ripe, I’m making this!
Oh, this looks heavenly! I love banana bread and I love chai tea, so it sounds like a winner to me. Plus, it’s simple enough that even with my limited cooking skills, I can make a delicious treat that’s perfect for fall. Thanks for sharing!
Megan | Southern Charmed
OMG this looks good!! My fiance would love this 🙂 Thank you for sharing!
http://neatly-packaged.com/
This looks very delicious! I love chai tea so I definitely would love to give this a try.
Wow! This looks AMAZING!!! And possibly easy to change over to gluten free!! Yum!!
I love banana bread and we’re always looking for new recipes! Great idea and thanks for sharing. Your pictures are wonderful too btw!
I LOVE Chai Tea! It never occured to me to use it this way. Awesome!
I never thought of this combination before! I’m weird when it comes to bananas. I don’t like them plain, in smoothies/drinks, or any other way EXCEPT banana bread. For some reason I love it!
These look amazing! It’s like all of my favorite ingredients in one thing 🙂
my husband loves chai, so this would be a perfect addition to breakfast for us. Add some raisins, and I’m sure my son would dive in, too!
Sounds simply scrumptious to me. I like the use of the chai tea in the banana bread. Pinning to my bread board so I can try it. It sounds really good to me, a nice twist on banana bread, especially that maple glaze!
My son was wild about this chai apple pie he tried last summer, so I see how this would be good! Pinning it for later.