A Great Back-to-School Snack That Your Kids Will Love

It’s time to go back to school and many parents are on the hunt for snack options that are both healthy and something their kids want to eat.

Let us introduce this delicious banana bread with streusel topping recipe. Using Fairlife ultrafiltered lactose-free milk gives this bread a light, moist texture with a perfectly browned crust. The milk also has 50 per cent more protein and 50 per cent less sugar than regular milk, which makes this an easy choice for a more nutritious snack.

This banana bread will stay fresh all week long, so get ahead of the game and bake it on Sunday. But let’s face it, it’s so good it might not last the full week.

Banana Bread with Streusel Topping

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour and 10 minutes
Serves: 8

Ingredients:

Streusel topping (optional)

• ½ cup raw shelled pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
• 2 tsp packed light or dark brown sugar
• 2 tsp poppy seeds
• 1/8 tbsp kosher salt
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Banana bread

• ¼ cup Fairlife 2% ultrafiltered, partly skimmed milk
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing pan
• 1 2/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
• 1 ½ cups mashed very ripe bananas (about 3 medium or 2 large)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp kosher or sea salt
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten

Directions:

For streusel topping (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C) with rack in middle. Spread pepitas on a baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted, about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool, then coarsely chop.

In a bowl, mix cooled pepitas with sugar, poppy seeds and salt until sugar is incorporated. Stir in butter. Set aside (leave oven on).

For banana bread

Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan with butter and dust with flour, tapping out any excess.

Stir together bananas, milk and vanilla extract in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter and honey on medium speed in another large bowl until light and fluffy; about 5 minutes. Add egg and beat until combined. Add banana mixture and beat until combined. Add dry ingredients in two additions, beating on low after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as necessary until fully incorporated.

Transfer batter to prepared pan and smooth top with spatula. Sprinkle with streusel topping.

Bake, rotating once halfway through, until sides are starting to pull away from pan and a tester inserted into centre of bread comes out clean; about 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes.

Cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a butter knife around edges of loaf, then carefully invert onto a plate (some streusel will fall off; you can sprinkle it back on). Invert back onto wire rack and let cool completely before slicing.

Source & Photo: (NC) Newscanada.com