Banana, mango, white chocolate and nutty spelt bread (sugar free)

It's no big secret that I love baking banana bread. I'm always looking for new recipe ideas and often create my own recipe based on ingredients that I'd like to use.  This month's We Should Cocoa challenge which was created by Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog and Chele from Chocolate Teapot challenges us to create something with chocolate and mango. We have Shaheen from Allotment to Kitchen to thank for the special ingredient (mango) as she is our lovely guest host this month.  As I had a lot of brown bananas to use up, I decided to create a recipe that incorporated bananas, mango & white chocolate.  I also made it sugar free by using honey and used spelt flour instead of plain flour. The result was a moist and flavourful bread. My mango was quite raw so it stayed intact during baking and was still visible in the bread. The white chocolate added a nice sweetness to the bread and the nuts added extra crunch and texture. Everyone seemed to enjoy the bread and there wasn't a crumb left by the end of the day. 

This recipe also gave me the opportunity to review an all purpose measuring jug with digital scale by find me a gift. It has a sturdy design and a slip-free base. The scale worked beautifully and was particularly handy for a recipe like this where I had to measure out different liquid and solid ingredients. It has measurements in different units and has a re-set function so you can set it back to zero after each ingredient. It does warn you not to submerge the base and handle in water as this may damage the digital scale function. I had no trouble washing and drying the jug and the digital scale is still fully functional. 

 total volume is 1L or 4 cups which is a decent size. The cup measures are divided into thirds (1/3) and quarters (1/4) and the liquid measures are divided into mls (50ml per marker) and ounces (2 oz per marker)

 It has a very handy preset weight measurements for sugar, flour, milk, water and oil (based on their density). The units can be switched from grams, mls, cups, ounces.

My verdict - a very useful and handy kitchen gadget which does what it says on the box. I think it would make a great gift for a baker/gadget lover and is ideal if you have a tiny kitchen and want to save space as this will easily double up as a measuring scale. It's also great when you're baking from an American recipe with measurements in cups - no conversion scales required! It's easy to wash although you have to be careful not to submerge the base and handles in water. I got a bit of water into the base whilst rinsing but dried it immediately and the scales were not affected. You have to use it on a flat surface otherwise the scale will read 'unst' (unstable) but that's the same with a normal measuring scale.

 spelt flour, walnuts, pecan nuts, honey, mango & passion fruit yoghurt, fresh mango, white chocolate chips, very brown bananas 

 adding the mango and white chocolate chips

 stir in the nuts 

 I got my banana bread pan out of the cupboard for this 

 ready to go in the oven 

 I love that you can see whole mango pieces in the bread!

An original recipe by bakingaddict

Makes 2 large loaves as shown - if you prefer a sweeter bake, add 50 - 75g brown sugar

 5 brown bananas, mashed

125ml vegetable oil

100g honey

450g yoghurt (I used mango & passion fruit but you can also use plain yoghurt)

1 medium sized mango - peeled and chopped

100g white chocolate chips

100g nuts (I used a mixture of pecans and walnuts as I had a bit of each left in the cupboard)

450g spelt flour

4 eggs

1.5 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Measure out the oil, honey and yoghurt and mix well.
• Add in the eggs.
• Pour into a large bowl and add in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
• Stir in the mango and white chocolate chips.
• Finally stir in the nuts.
• Divide into 2 loaf tins and bake for approximately 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. If the loaf is browning quickly, remove from the oven and cover with foil to prevent the top burning. 

Disclaimer: I was sent the measuring jug to review free of charge. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.