Roasted Butternut Squash and Plantain Teabread

This is a heavy, dense, moist, dark, and not too sweet teabread. It’s great for those of us who have to watch their carbohydrate and sugar intake. I have used a combination of plantain and butternut squash along with a variety of tropical spices. It goes really well with a lot of sweet cream butter spread on it, or slices of sharp Cheddar cheese. I recommend having this bread with a cup of Darjeeling or Earl Gray Tea.It tastes even better the next day!

 Ingredients

1/3 cup shortening (I used equal amount of coconut oil and shortening)

½ cup dark brown sugar (I like to use Colombian Panela)

2 eggs

1/2 cup strong black tea (1 teabag to the 1/2 cup water)

½ cup bread flour

½ cup whole wheat flour

½ cup Scottish oatmeal

2 tablespoons Flax Meal

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

7 ozs ripe plantain

7 ozs roasted pumpkin or butternut squash

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground coriander

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon freshly grated ginger root (optional)

¼ teaspoon allspice

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Juice and zest of ½ lemon

1/3 cup dried cranberries or Goji berries, finely chopped

  Directions

1.       Grease and flour a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan, and line the bottom with a square of parchment paper

2.       Measure out all the dry ingredients, spices, baking soda and powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Mix together well.

3.       Bring the water to a boil and steep the teabag in it. Add to the brown sugar, lemon zest and juice, and finely chopped cranberries.

4.       Cut the plantain as shown in the photo.

Do not peel. Coat the surface with a little vegetable oil and place on a baking sheet. Do the same with the Butternut squash (see photo). Bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit. It does not matter if the surface of the plantain is blackened a bit. This is just caramelization of the sugar in the plantain and adds to the flavor.

5.       Remove from oven and allow to cool. Peel both the butternut squash and plantain, cut into small pieces and put in a small blender/chopper. Mix with some of the tea/cranberry mixture and blend to a puree.

Add this back to the remaining tea/cranberry mixture.

6.       Decrease the oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

7.       With a whisk attachment on your stand mixer, beat the shortening and eggs together at high speed for 3 minutes. Add the cooled tea/cranberry/plantain/pumpkin mixture and beat at medium speed for 1-2 minutes.

8.       Change the whisk to a paddle attachment on your mixer. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just incorporated. Do not overmix.

Pour the batter (the batter will be stiff. Remember it’s a bread, not a cake) into the loaf pan, and using a spatula, spread evenly in the pan. Bake in oven for 50 to 60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the middle come out clean. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes before turning out of the pan. Cut into slices when completely cooled

Baked Plantain Cranberry Teabread

THIS IS A WINNER! I'm always looking for new ways to use the fruits and vegetables from tropical countries. Plantains are a member of the Banana family but they taste nothing like a banana. They have their own unique flavor, which intensifies further when baked. I have another recipe on my site for a plantain cranberry bread but with this one, I opted to bake the plantain first as that intensifies the flavor and sweetness of the fruit. I have also used oatmeal, and whole wheat flour to add a dimension of more complex carbohydrates rather than just using only flour. The desiccated coconut also add some carbohydrates that are more slowly absorbed than just flour, and also gives it an interesting taste and texture. For spices, I have used ground coriander for its citrus note, allspice and cayenne pepper to add a little "zing" to the taste. I have used very little sugar (and could probably even decrease it to 1/3 cup) in this recipe because the cranberries, and plantain add their natural sweetness, and makes the bread sweet enough. For an interesting twist, you could also substitute half of the dried cranberries with Goji Berries, if desired.
Ingredients
3/4 cup dried cranberries, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup green tea (flavored is fine. I use 1 teabag of Lipton Purple Acai Berry green tea for the 1/2 cup of water)
1 large plantain, unpeeled

Juice and zest of half lemon
1 cup bread or all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup oatmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

3 tablespoons coconut oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup half and half

1/2 cup desiccated coconut, unsweetened
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Method

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit

2. In a small saucepan, bring the 1/2 cup water to a boil. Pour over the tea bag, cranberries, and let steep for 3-5 minutes. Remove tea bag and set tea mixture aside. Let the mixture sit until the cranberries have absorbed the tea and plump up. 

3. Make a shallow cut in the skin of the plantain along its length. Fold back the skin of the plantain and lightly oil the surface of the plantain. Bake the plantain on the skin, a cookie sheet until it is easily pierced with a knife blade. About 15-20 minutes in a convection (fan) oven at 425 degrees Fahrenheit will do it. Remove from the oven and mash it with a fork (photo). Let it cool, and mix it in with the tea mixture, cranberries, lemon juice and zest.  Set aside

4. Melt the butter and coconut oil and let cool.

5. Sift the flour, baking powder, desiccated coconut, baking soda, spices, and salt into a mixing bowl. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat both eggs and the sugar until it becomes pale in color. Add the vanilla, melted butter, and oil, to the mixture, and beat for about 30 seconds more.

6. Add the mashed plantain mixture to the mixture in the electric mixer bowl and blend on low speed. Alternate adding the dry ingredients with the half and half, mixing until all the ingredients are incorporated.  End with the dry ingredients.  Do not over mix. Fold in the pecans (if you are using them) and pour it into a lightly greased 9 by 5-inch loaf pan, the bottom of which has been lined with parchment paper. 

7. Bake in the oven for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, or until a toothpick or bamboo skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack, in pan for 10 minutes before attempting to turn out the bread. Slice when cooled to room temperature. I freeze the slices by wrapping them in plastic wrap, and then foil.