This Loaf is Bananas! B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

Baking. It’s my happy place. I really think I will be that mom that always has the home baked cake at the school cake walk, will send her kids to school with (homemade) healthy, fun, yummy snacks, and will be the first to sign up to put on class parties. Yep, THAT mom. The kind that is part of a stroller walking (maybe running [gasp]?!) club, that stays home with her kids, that cooks dinner every night, that takes her kids to movies in the park, on fun play adventures, and only lets them play on her iPhone on special occassions. Or..ugh,  if I’m really being honest…. I guess that is just the kind of mom I WANT to be. And maybe, knowing that I can’t have that kind of mom-life yet, that’s why the baby-fever has never hit. I feel it coming on though, the closer we get to being debt free, the more money we (by “we” I mean the drummer boy) bring home, the more solid we get as husband and wife, the closer I get to 30…. but I’m not quite “there” yet. 

 

Anyways. Back to baking. I love baking. Baking is my jam. Baking is my happy place. I love cooking too, but honestly, I don’t like the freedom cooking allows. I’m a rule follower. I have breaking the rules. Anyone can break a rule and get away with it. When I break a rule, I am the one who gets in trouble. I am not exagerating. Anyways, back to baking. Baking just has so many tangents I can go off on!

 

The whole point of this post is to share this amazing Banana Bread recipe from The Minimalist Baker I made this past weekend. 

 

 

I’ve had feelings about the Minimalist Baker for awhile now. Her blog – so cute. The photography – so good. The food – looks amazing. Buuttttt the ingredients… the steps… it seems so complicated for someone who calls themself a “Minimalist” Baker. But alas, I had bananas that needed to be used, like, yesterday, so I searched for a tasty looking banana bread recipe and hers popped up! It was time. 

 

The original recipe includes her homemade nutella recipe, which I was going to make and then decided I didnt want to spend the $8 on hazelnuts at Trader Joes.. so I went with PB instead (which the recipe says you can sub in place of the nutella). 

 

Let me start (Start?! HAHA) by saying that this recipe is amazing out of the bowl, as is, unbaked. I knew it was going to be delish piping hot out of the oven too, spread with some Earth Balance… mmmmmm. 

 

I was not disappointed. This may be the best vegan, gluten free banana bread I’ve ever made or HAD in my life. And I’ll tell you – my mom makes the BEST banana bread and this easily rivals it. 

 

Here’s my one complaint – it didnt seem to stay good very long. On the third or fourth day, it started to taste a little soury kind of. I’m wondering if I should have baked it a few minutes longer? Anyways, give it a go and let me know what you think!

 

ps: I’m officialy sold on the Minimalist Baker, and I’m sure I’ll be posting many more of her recipes! Let me know if you like it!

1 BOWL NUTELLA BANANA BREAD (VEGAN + GF)

PRINT FRIENDLY VERSION

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

1 hour 10 mins

Total time

1 hour 25 mins

1 Bowl NUTELLA Banana Bread that’s super moist, easy to make and so flavorful. The vegan nutella swirl makes it! The perfect vegan, gluten free snack, breakfast or dessert.

Author: Minimalist Baker

Recipe type: Snack, Breakfast

Cuisine: Vegan, Gluten Free

Serves: 10

Ingredients

• 1 flax egg (1 Tbsp flax seed meal + 2.5 Tbsp water)
• 3 medium ripe bananas (~1.5 cups / 425 g)
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 Tbsp (45 g) grape seed or melted coconut oil
• 1/4 cup (45 g) coconut sugar (or sub cane sugar)
• 1/4 cup (55 g) packed brown sugar
• 2-3 Tbsp maple syrup (depending on sweetness of banana)
• 3.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 3/4 cup (180 ml) unsweetened almond or other milk
• 1 1/4 cup (140 g) almond meal
• 1 1/4 cup (165 g) gluten free flour blend (if not gluten free, sub unbleached all purpose) flour
• 1 1/4 cup (100 g) gluten free oats
• 1/4 cup ( 64 g) Vegan Nutella or sub peanut or almond butter

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a loaf pan with parchment paper or spray with nonstick spray.
2. Prepare flax egg in a large mixing bowl and let rest for 5 minutes.
3. Add banana and mash well with a fork, leaving only a few chunky pieces. You want it pretty smooth.
4. Add remaining ingredients through almond milk and whisk vigorously to combine. Last add almond meal, gluten free flour blend and oats and stir well to combine.
5. Pour into the pan and smooth with a spoon, then drizzle on Nutella. Take a knife or skewer and swirl to loosely disperse.
6. Bake for 1 hour 5 minutes – 1 hour 15 minutes. When done, it should feel firm and be crackly and golden brown on top.
7. Let rest in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool. Let cool completely before cutting or it will be too tender to hold form. It’s best the next day!
8. Store leftovers covered at room temperature for up to a few days. Slice and freeze for longer term storage.

Notes

*Adapted from my 1 Bowl Gluten Free Banana Bread, originally adapted from Take a Megabite.
*Nutrition information is a rough estimate for 1 of 10 slices.
*For the gluten free flour blend, either use my DIY blend listed above, or the Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Baking Blend.

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 1 of 10 slices Calories: 331 Fat: 14.4g Saturated fat: 3.2g Carbohydrates: 47g Sugar: 21gSodium: 325mg Fiber: 6g Protein: 6.5g