Healthy banana bread

A healthy glug of maple syrup is the key to this wonderfully moist vegan banana bread, flavoured with both coconut oil and desiccated coconut.

How to

1. Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Oil and line a 900g loaf tin.

2. Put the chia seeds in a small bowl with 75ml of water. Stir and leave to thicken for 5 minutes. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, bicarb and ½ tsp of fine sea salt.

3. Reserve 1 tbsp of the maple syrup and put the rest in a large bowl along with the oil. Whisk together. Add the chia seeds and whisk again until combined. Add the mashed bananas, milk and vanilla extract, and give it a final whisk.

4. Using a silicone spatula, fold in the flour mixture – be careful not to over-mix, a few lumps are fine. Fold in the coconut until just combined.

5. Pour the batter into the loaf tin and level it out. Thickly slice the remaining banana lengthwise and arrange on top. Brush with the remaining maple syrup then bake for 50-55 minutes. The top of the loaf should be deeply golden and a skewer inserted into the middle should come out clean. Let the bread cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then use the baking paper to lift the loaf onto a wire rack to cool before slicing.