Banana Bread with Millet

I've got big news for you! On March 23, our precious daughter Julia was born and we're happy to report that she's healthy. She's undoubtedly the most amazing thing that ever happened to me and I enjoy every day with her. Of course, she keeps us up at night, but I guess it could be worse. Most of the time, she's an angel and it's so exciting to get to know her. And somehow, despite my lack of sleep, I found myself in the kitchen yesterday morning, baking banana bread. It spontaneously overcame me when I looked at three over-ripe bananas on our fruit plate and I remembered this simple recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I'm a big fan of millet and I had been wondering how this cake would turn out. The uncooked grains add a crunch to the smooth and moist dough. I like it a lot. Also, it's not that sweet and it's just as perfect for afternoon tea as well as for breakfast.

Recipe
(from the fabulous Smitten Kitchen)

3 large ripe-to-over-ripe bananas
1 large egg
80ml virgin coconut oil, warmed until it liquefies, or olive oil
65g light brown sugar
60-80ml maple syrup, depending on how sweet you like it
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 pinch of ground cloves
180g flour or spelt flour
50g uncooked millet

Preheat your oven to 180°C. Line a 22-25cm cake tin with parchment paper.

In the bottom of a large bowl, mash bananas with a potato masher, the back of a wooden spoon or with a fork until virtually smooth but a few tiny lumps remain. Whisk in egg, then oil, brown sugar, syrup and vanilla extract. Sprinkle baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves over mixture and stir until combined. Stir in flour until just combined, then millet.

Pour mixture into your prepared pan and bake until a tester comes out clean, about 40 - 50 minutes. Cool loaf in the pan or on a wire rack.