Apple Cranberry Pecan Bread with Bananas and Flax

No, you're not dreaming. Don't be afraid, it's okay to stare. This is exactly what all you health freaks could have ever hoped for. I would know, I'm just like you. This bread packs so much incredible goodness all in one place. It is truly divine.


I have a little bit of constant Autumn-fever, it seems. Whenever I daydream about new baked goods (which is pretty much all the time), I imagine them with pumpkin, figs, sweet potatoes, cranberries, persimmons, apples, nuts, spices, and the like. These are exclusively Fall flavors, but I just NEED to have them at regular intervals! So on this Sunday morning, while browsing Joy The Baker's decadent archive of food porn, I came across a recipe for banana cranberry bread that looked waaay too good to pass up. I only had one banana, so I added a grated apple and some other goodies to make it my own. Please, try it for yourself and get your Fall flavor fix. You know you want to.

Apple Cranberry Pecan Bread
-Adapted and modified from Joy The Baker-

1 ripe banana, mashed
1 apple, grated
1/3 cup light olive oil (or any oil you prefer)
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. bourbon
1 tsp. baking soda
pinch of salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 Tbsp. ground flax
1 cup cranberries (I used frozen)
3/4 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350.
With a wooden spoon, mix oil into the banana and grated apple in a large bowl. Add brown sugar, egg, vanilla and bourbon, then the spices, and thoroughly combine. Sprinkle baking soda, salt, and flax over batter and mix in. Then add the flour and stir to combine. Finally, add the cranberries and 1/2 cup of the pecans, mixing just until incorporated.
Pour mixture into an oiled and parchment-lined loaf pan. Sprinkle remaining pecans and a little sugar over the top. Bake for 1 hour. Allow to cool on a wire rack before removing from the pan. Slice and devour.