Banana Bread {Paleo, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Sugar-Free}

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It feels like fall in the city. The weather had been grey and gloomy all week, which is quite a change from last weeks sunburn weather! Grey clouds always get me in a comfy cozy mood, and inspire me to drink tea and curl up with a good book and a blanket. But, what’s tea without a little tea treat, am  right?

This amazing banana bread entered into my heart a few weeks ago when I had a day off and went to go visit my sister at work. She’s been on this “Paleo Kick” that I usually roll my eyes at, but I have to say this recipe immediate became a kitchen staple and has now replaced my  tried and true Banana Bread recipe that is YEARS old! It’s THAT good kids! 

Gluten-free cooking is nothing new to me. I LOVE baking with Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour and have made quite a few goodies with it. Most recently I made a Strawberry Basil BreadGingerbread cookiesChocolate Chip Cookies, amazing Vanilla Cupcakes, and even tried my hand at Vegan Gluten-Free Donuts! To be clear, I am NOT a big believer in following every food fad that comes along, and most definitely did NOT jump on the Paleo band wagon when it came in vogue, nor am I on that bandwagon now. This bread is quite simply one of the most delicious healthy baked goods I’ve ever had. It’s mainly bananas and eggs, a little homemade almond butter, gluten-free flour, and some apple sauce to hold it all together. That’s it! No added sugars. No two stick of butter and 5 cups of refined white flour. Just simple, regular ingredients you can pronounce and happily eat.

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There are many variations you can try with this recipe and I list a few at the end of this recipe. Next time I might throw in some blueberries, or try coconut flour to make a bit more of a dessert style bread. What variations would you, or are you, going to try?

Paleo Banana Bread
Adapted from Civilized Caveman Cooking Creations Recipe 
Prep Time: 10 mins | Cook time: 30-45 minutes

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups  yellow bananas, mashed (approx. 4 bananas) 
4 eggs
1/2 cup homemade almond butter
4 tablespoons Apple sauce (original recipe called for melted grass-fed butter or coconut oil)
1/2 cup gluten-free flour
2 tsp cinnamon (original recipe called for 1 tbsp but that’s a little heavy for a summer bread)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder (gluten-free or homemade)
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of sea salt

Instructions
1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit
2. Combine your bananas, eggs, and nut butter, and apple sauce and mix well
3. Add in in the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, and sea salt and mix well
4. Grease a 9×5 glass (see notes) loaf pan with a fat of your choice (I use Rice Bran oil)
5. Pour in your batter and spread it evenly throughout
6. Place in your preheated oven and bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (If you use a metal pan it will probably bake in 35-40 minutes so start checking at 35 to ensure the middle stays moist)
7. Remove from oven and flip your bread out onto a cooling rack
8. Slice and serve

Variations
1. Alternate Nut Butter: You can use any almond butter you desire: coconut, sunflower seed, macadamia nut, etc
2. Alternate Flour: My sister uses coconut flour, but I bet that almond flour or macadamia nut meal could be delicious
3. Flavors: Cranberry Orange – Only use 3 tablespoons of butter. Add zest of one whole orange diced, juice of one whole orange, and 1 cup dried cranberries or fresh if you want
4. Flavors: Chocolate Blueberry – Add 1 cup of fresh blueberries and 1/2 cup of cocoa powder
5. Flavors: Pumpkin Pecan – Reduce the almond butter to 1/4 cup and add 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree and 1 cup of roughly chopped pecan pieces

If you want to make these into muffins, use the same recipe and for mini muffins bake approximately 25 mins and normal size muffins 30-35 minutes.

 

Chocolate Chip Walnut Banana Bread (Gluten Free, Vegan, Nut Free Options)

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Other than gingerbread cookies, there is little that makes the house smell as amazing as banana bread! We needed a few last minute “office gifts” so I whipped up a few loaves of fresh banana bread but feeling festive, I decided that we needed to venture from the original recipe a bit so in went the chocolate chips! This recipe yields three mini loaves, one large loaf, or one pan of regular muffins. Wrap them up in some festive wrapping and tie some twine or raffia on them, and there you go! Homemade presents! Be sure to list that they have gluten, dairy and nuts in them unless you choose to make them without any of these which you can!

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Banana Walnut Bread (w/Gluten-Free, Vegan, Nut Free Options)
Adapted from my recipe for Banana Walnut Bread

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 c. flour (can use Whole-Wheat or Gluten-Free)
  • 2/3 c. white sugar
  • 1 tsp. double-acting baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 c. shortening
  • 1 cup mashed bananas ( 2 ripe bananas)
  • 1 small banana, cut into chunks
  • 2 eggs (use egg replacer if going vegan)
  • 1/2 cup walnuts (omit if going nut-free)
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips (if going diary free, be sure to read the chocolate chip ingredients)
  • 1 fresh orange, squeezed (my addition)

IMG_0327Directions

  1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F
  2. Grease and flour ( or non-stick spray) your baking pan(s)
  3. In a large bowl, mix the first 5 ingredients
  4. Cut in the shortening using a pastry blender (or two knives scissor-fashion) until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs
  5. Stir in the remaining ingredients until just blended
  6. Bake in pre-heated oven as directed below:
    Large loaf pan: 55-60 minutes
    4 Individual Loaf pans: 30-40 minutes
  7. Cool in pan on wire rack