Cherry and Almond Breakfast Bread made with Almond Breeze’s Almond Milk

Almond Breeze at Blue Diamond Almonds has given 30 food bloggers  through Foodies100 the challenge of creating a breakfast recipe using their almond milk and I was recently sent a carton of unsweetened Almond Breeze to see what I could come up with. I have never tried almond milk before and wasn’t sure what to expect, I am however a huge fan of almonds, so this sounded like something that I would like!  The unsweetened almond milk is very low calorie and has no added sugars, it is a great alternative to soya or dairy milk and is a good source of calcium. I also found that it is really easy to use in baking as a replacement for cow’s milk. It worked really well. With the chance to win a Gourmet Hotel Stay this competition was something I didn’t want to miss!

I remember going out for breakfast once and ordering coconut banana bread with lime marmalade. It was delicious and made me realise just how good banana bread is for breakfast, because of this I decided to come up with a banana bread recipe using Almond Breeze. As I would use Almond Breeze as a milk substitute I decided to make the banana bread completely dairy free and used a dairy free spread as a replacement for butter too. I also used wholemeal flour in the loaf to make it more of a breakfast bread rather than a cake.

My favourite flavour to pair with almonds is cherry. I think cherry and almond just go beautifully together, I used the combination for my Jubilee cake that I made recently. Cherry and almond is definitely up there with chocolate and orange! So when I hear the word almond, I automatically think of cherries and that is how this banana bread came to be a cherry and almond banana loaf, I used ground almonds to enhance the almond flavour. To finish it off I made a quick cherry jam for those who like a bit of sweetness at breakfast time!

So, to make this Dairy Free Cherry and Almond Banana Bread using Almond Breeze:

You will need:

160g plain flour
80g wholemeal flour
40g ground almonds
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp baking powder
100g dairy free spread (I used a dairy free olive spread)
120g caster sugar
2 eggs
3 bananas
150ml Almond Breeze unsweetened Almond Milk
120g stoned cherries (quartered)
flaked almonds to finish

Start by creaming together the spread and the sugar and then add the eggs one at a time. Mash the bananas and add to the mix along with the Almond Breeze almond milk. Mix will. Add the flours, ground almonds, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and cherries to the mixture and combine everything together. To prevent the cherries from sinking coat them in flour before adding them to the mix.

Pour the mixture into a greased and lined loaf tin and bake in a preheated oven at 180C for about an hour. Half way through cooking sprinkle some flaked almonds on the top of the loaf. The cake is done when a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool slightly (although this loaf is very nice served warm!)

To make the quick cherry jam:

200g stoned whole cherries
juice of half a lemon
50ml water
100g caster sugar

Put the cherries in a pan with the lemon and water and let it bubble away for about 10 minutes. Add the sugar, stir and continue to let the cherries simmer until the mixture starts to reduce. Take off the heat and allow to cool.

Serve the warm loaf sliced with cherry jam. Enjoy your rather yummy breakfast!

Thanks to Almond Breeze for sending me the almond milk for this recipe, I am very pleased I have now discovered almond milk!

Lottie xx

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Tags: almond, Almond Breeze, almond milk, banana, Blue Diamond, Bread, breakfast, cherries, Cherry, Foodies 100, jam, loaf