Confession: I’m a carbs monster (especially with banana bread).
I’d eat square white Wonder bread straight outta the bag, piece after piece, until I lapsed into a diabetic coma. I’m a nightmare for Olive Garden’s Endless Pasta promotion. I hollow out the hard bread piece Panera gives you with soup. Crackers, breads, pastas, rice, whatever. I love some carby goodness. Sue me.
I wanted to make banana bread since Arkansas had approximately three hours of fall-like weather before hitting the mid-eighties again, and I figured we could make-believe that we have seasons besides “Hot Season” and “Cold Season.” Gotta strike while the iron is hot, right (or weather is cool, tomAto, tomAHto). In the days since I’ve given up meat, though, I’ve also been limiting my consumption of animal by-products altogether, and when you’re a Southerner dead-set on baking, you have to get a little bit crafty.
Let me tell you this: I think this is probably the best banana bread I’ve ever made, “regular” ingredient recipes included. It’s moist and gooey and not too sweet. And it’s dairy-free, egg-free, animal-free, but flavorFULL.
Main Banana Bread Substitutions
Eggs. Obviously, we aren’t eating eggs, so you need to find a different ingredient that will have the same binding properties as an egg. There’s a little miracle I’ve seen around the internet called a “flax” egg- you basically mix ground flax seed with a little water, and it turns into an egg-y consistency.
Sugar. I used coconut sugar in the place of granulated white sugar. Different texture and a great change.
Oil/butter. Keeping with the coconut roll, we ditched vegetable oil & butter for a little melted coconut oil.
Attribution
I found the original recipe at Oh She Glows and tweaked it. Added a little, took out a little. No need to reinvent the entire wheel, just smear some peanut butter on it for a different end product, amirite?
Disclaimer: I’m not a very good food photographer. My little iPhone picture won’t do this Wonder-Bread justice, but you’ll just have to trust me. I’ll work hard to become a better photographer, you guys work on your imagination skills.
- 4 extra ripe bananas
- 2 tbs. ground flaxseed
- 1/4 c. almond milk
- 1/4 c. coconut oil, melted
- 1/4 c. crunchy peanut butter
- 2 tbs. maple syrup
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/4 c. coconut sugar
- 1/2 c. rolled oats
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 1/2 c. flour
- 1 bag Enjoy Life dairy-free chocolate chips
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a 9x5-inch loaf pan with oil and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas until smooth.
- Stir the wet ingredients (ground flaxseed, almond milk, melted coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla, and peanut butter) into the banana until combined.
- Stir the dry ingredients (sugar, oats, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour) into the wet mixture, one by one, in the order listed. Add the chocolate chips at the end.
- Spread dough out evenly in the loaf pan.
- Bake the loaf, uncovered, for 55 to 60 minutes minutes until lightly golden and firm on top.
- Place the loaf pan on a cooling rack for 30 minutes. Then, slide a knife around the loaf to loosen it and gently remove it from the pan, placing it directly onto the cooling rack until completely cooled.
- Slice the loaf once cooled.
- You can add some chips or walnuts to the top of the loaf (pre-oven time) for aesthetics, but let's be real - I just wanted to eat it.
- Crunchy peanut butter is a personal preference, but I like the texture it gives.
xx.
ty
Oh this looks delicious!