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.

 

Easter Brunch Cake: Spiced Carrot Cake w/ Walnut Coconut Glaze (Paleo)

Spiced Carrot Cake w/ Walnut Coconut Glaze
Spiced Carrot Cake w/ Walnut Coconut Glaze

Happy Easter everyone!! What better way to celebrate the Seattle sun than with a delicious cake for Easter brunch. A member of the family recently enrolled in cooking school so this was the year for me to take a back seat in the kitchen and a prime seat on the patio with a mimosa and let someone else do the work!

But, a chef can’t QUITE sit still that long so I whipped up a breakfast cake recipe, keeping in mind the diet of our Paleo host and hostess and I have to report that it turned out to be a delightful little post-brunch treat.

I was positive that our new chef would do just fine filling our stomachs with the main course so we needed a festive cake that was just a tad sweet, had a nice moist yet crunchy texture and a flavor that was both rich and light to satisfy the last few remaining bits of space in our brunch-ers stomachs. This cake did the trick! I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, since my recipes are comprised of a little of this and a handful of that but the measurements below are rough estimates.

Notes: If it feels a bit dry, add more applesauce or soy milk. A bit too wet  opt for more coconut or a dash more flour. With the glaze, keep the mindset that less water is better! It’s easier to add more water than have a half batch of glaze leftovers.

I did a bit too much and wound up with a half bowl of glaze! Above all else, pour another mimosa and have a wonderful day!!

 

Spiced Carrot Cake w/ Walnut Coconut Glaze (Paleo)

  • 1/2 c apple sauce
  • 1 c coconut flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3/4 c packed light-brown sugar
  • 1/3 c soy milk
  • 2 c shredded carrots
  • 1/3 c unsweetened coconut

Glaze & Topping:

  • 1/3 c unsweetened coconut
  • water (as much as needed)
  • chopped walnuts

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8inch round cake pan with Pam or Misto with Canola oil.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; set aside.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, applesauce and soy milk until smooth.
  4. Gently mix egg mixture into dry ingredients until moistened; mix in carrots. Transfer batter to prepared pan.
  5. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes (if browning too quickly, tent cake with aluminum foil). Cool in pan, 15 minutes. Turn out of pan, remove paper, and cool completely on a rack, right side up.
  6. Transfer to cake pedestal, and sprinkle with crumbled walnuts
  7. Make glaze and drizzle over the top of the cake and walnuts or dust with confectioners’ sugar.