My Famous Heavenly Banana Bread
An oldie but oh-so-goodie becomes super-healthy in this revised version. The name might fool you since it is more like dessert than bread but one thing is for sure, it is delicious! Ripe, brown bananas are perfectly ok to use here but also just ripe yellow bananas are great.
Don’t let the long ingredient list scare you. Most ingredients are from my Baking Essentials list. Moreover, cleanup is straightforward, because you are using one tool—the food processor or a blender—to combine ingredients. As usual, add the ingredients as listed, with short pulses in between to ensure everything is blended.
Here is what you need:
½ cup coconut oil, melted
¼ cup coconut sugar
3 eggs
3 bananas (frozen and defrosted or fresh)
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups almond meal
¼ cup flaxseed meal
¼ cup coconut flour
¼ cup arrowroot flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of sea salt
Optional #1: Splash cinnamon
Optional #2: ½ cup chocolate chips
Optional #3: ¼ cup chopped pecans
Let’s do this:
1. Using a food processor or blender, start adding the ingredients in the order they appear. Stop blending after the vanilla.
2. Add the dry ingredients and then blend again until everything is combined. You might have to stop one more time and use a spatula to help incorporate the dry ingredients into the batter. You should have a thick batter.
3. At this point, you can add the optional cinnamon, chocolate chips or chopped pecans. Mix lightly with a spatula by hand.
4. Transfer to a loaf pan lined with parchment paper.
5. Bake at 350°F for 40-45 minutes. It is ready when you touch the center of the bread either with your fingers or a back of a spoon and it feels firm.
Variation: Use 1 cup almond meal and 1 cup of Einkorn flour instead of the other flours.
Seeds for Thought: Einkorn flour is made from an ancient grain that is minimally processed and contains more nutrients than gluten.
