Tropical Banana Bread with Honey

To celebrate National Honeybee Day, we invite you to take on the challenge of substituting honey for any recipe calling for sugar. We have created a Cooking with Honey Kitchen Cheat Sheet that gives simple directions on how to make the substitution easily.

I gave it a try using one of my favorite banana bread recipes taken from the wonderful cookbook “A Taste of Aloha” which is a collection of recipes from the Junior League of Honolulu first published in 1983.

The changes I made to the recipe are as follows:

• I replaced 1 cup of sugar with 1/2 cup of Macadamia blossom honey.
• I cut down by 20% the fruit juice asked for in the original recipe to allow for the added moisture in the honey.
• The original recipe asked for enough baking soda to balance the acidity of the honey, so I did not need to make any changes.
• The original recipe had the baking temperature set at 350F, and I lowered the temperature to 325F as honey browns faster than granulated sugar.

I was very pleased with the results! The banana bread came out moist and flavorful. Celebrate our hard-working honeybees by replacing sugar with honey in one of your favorite recipes.

Here is the final modified recipe I used.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup of Whole Wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 ( 81/4 ounce) can of crushed pineapple ( drain and keep aside 1/4 cup juice to add to the recipe)
• 1 cup mashed, ripe banana
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1 tsp freshly grated orange rind
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup of Big Island Bees Macadamia Blossom Honey
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts
• 1 tablespoon cocoa nibs ( optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F and butter a one-pound bread pan.
2. Sift dry ingredients together and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine crushed pineapple, banana, orange, and pineapple juice (a total of 1/2 cup juice) and orange peel.
4. In a large bowl, cream the butter and honey together. Then add the eggs and beat well.
5. Add a small amount of the flour mixture alternating with the fruit mixture, mixing just enough to moisten the flour.
6. Stir in the nuts and pour into the greased bread pan. Sprinkle the top with 1 tablespoon of cocoa nibs if you choose.
7. Bake for an hour and 15 minutes or until golden brown and set.