Orange Banana Bread

I am not really a fan of bananas, but I love banana cake and banana bread. After the success of the orange flavored cupcakes I baked for Mother's Day, I was inspired to create an orange banana bread. This recipe will not make the banana bread taste overly orange-y, but instead adds just a slight orange flavor to the bread.

Orange Banana Bread

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup sucanat
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1 cup mashed bananas
2 Tbsp. orange extract
5 Tbsp. orange juice

Optional Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. ground flax
2 Tbsp. chia seeds
2 Tbsp. hemp hearts
** Be advised that adding all three of these optional ingredients will affect the texture of your banana bread! It will be much grainier than a regular banana bread.**

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350^oF; grease and flour a 9"x5" loaf pan.
2. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in one bowl.
Optional: add flax seeds, chia seeds and hemp hearts.
3. Cream sucanat and butter.
4. Lightly beat the egg and the orange extract.
5. Mash the bananas, and add the bananas and the egg mixture to the creamed ingredients.
6. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, until just combined.
7. Stir in the orange juice.
8. Spread mixture into the loaf pan and bake 40 minutes to an hour, or until the top is browned and cracking.

Enjoy!

~Note: You can add all, some or none of the optional ingredients. The flax seeds alone will have little to no effect on the texture of the bread. The hemp hearts will add a nice nutty flavor, but they will also change the texture.