Healthier Fig and Chocolate Bread

I said a few months ago now that I was going to share a healthier version of THIS recipe. I decided today that rather than making it a bunch of times to get it exactly perfect AND THEN sharing it, that I would share it now and allow you to be part of the experimentation! Plus, we all have different opinions about how we like our food anyway. So I could have made it over and over and over again when YOUR favorite would have been the second one I tried. All that to say, here it is! I'll give some other ideas of how you could make this to get your creative mind going.

Fresh Fig and Chocolate Bread

·        6 medium fresh figs, diced

·        1 tablespoon of honey

·        ¼ cup melted butter

·        ½ cup brown sugar, packed

·        1 egg

·        1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·        2 cups white whole wheat flour

·        2 teaspoons baking powder

·        ½ cup milk

·        2 overripe bananas, mashed

·        ¼ - ½ chocolate chips (not optional....especially if you like dark chocolate : )

·        ¼ cup chopped walnuts

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 inch loaf pan.

2. Combine diced figs and honey in a small bowl and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, add the melted butter, sugar, egg, milk, bananas, and the vanilla extract and mix until combined. 

4. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder and then mix into the wet ingredients until just combined. Fold in the figs, walnuts, and the chocolate.

5. Pour into the loaf pan and bake in the oven for 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If the top is browning too quickly cover the bread with foil. 

6. Remove from the oven and let it cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing and cooling completely on a wire rack.

Other Suggestions

• Use 1/2 a cup of dates or raisins in place of the figs when they are not in season
• Use any kind of nuts that you like best OR don't use nuts at all
• Add some oats or oat flour OR a nut flour
• Replace the bananas with unsweetened applesauce OR do half and half bananas and applesauce
• Leave out the milk and use applesauce OR add an egg
• Leave out the bananas and use double the butter plus an egg 
• Make them into muffins instead (reduce bake time to 15 - 20 minutes...or close to that)
• OR forget all of these healthier ideas and make the original I linked at the top : )