There’s three spotty bananas sitting in the fruit bowl, but they’ve surpassed the standard level of ripeness. They’re borderline mushy. When this happens, the best way to let them not go to waste is to make some banana bread! Banana bread is great anytime of year, but in the Fall, the cravings for warm, sweet carbs kicks in. Along with that is the craving for anything and everything pumpkin spice. Yeah yeah, “so basic,” but don’t pretend you don’t love it, too! Ok, so there may be someeee people who actually don’t love it. In that case, leave out the pumpkin spice, or sub it for just cinnamon. Equally delicious. This recipe also calls for pecans and chocolate chips. I hear there’s some crazy people out there who don’t like nuts and/or chocolate chips in their desserts. The recipe will work just the same without either of those! You could also make this your own by subbing in whatever it is that you prefer (i.e. raisins, blueberries, coconut).
The best part about this particular recipe is that it’s paleo, gluten free, dairy free, and refined sugar free. It actually hardly has any added sugar at all. Of course the bananas contain natural sugars, but other than that it’s just one tablespoon of organic pure maple syrup. And you know we LOVE healthy fats, but typically, recipes for baked goods contain a little too much of them (either lots of oil or butter), but this bread has just one tablespoon of MCT oil (you can also sub for coconut oil), and 1/2 cup of almond butter. This way you get some healthy fats and some protein without going overboard or making this too decadent. Basically, we’re saying that you can, and should, enjoy this bread completely guilt free. It’s healthy enough that you could have a slice for breakfast (we recommend getting an extra spoon of almond butter and spreading it onto the slice!). To make it paleo, we used coconut flour. Almond flour or oat flour tends to be better for baking, as far as gluten free flours go, but we decided to make this paleo-friendly. Check out this banana bread recipe for a more traditional version that’s still gluten free, dairy free, and refined sugar free (also includes a vegan variation). Coconut flour absorbs more liquid so it’s a little difficult to work with. We recommend storing this bread in the fridge to firm up the texture a bit and make it last longer.
Ingredients
3 ripe, spotty bananas
3 eggs
1 Tablespoon organic pure maple syrup
1 Tablespoon MCT oil or coconut oil
1/2 C almond butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 C coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla bean powder
2 tsp pumpkin spice
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Smash the bananas with a fork in a mixing bowl.
3. Add in remaining wet ingredients: ggs, maple, almond butter, and oil. Wisk together until smooth, or use an electric mixer.
4. Add in dry ingredients: flour, vanilla bean powder, 1 tsp pumpkin spice, and baking powder, and mix thoroughly.
5. Stir in most of the pecans and chocolate chips, saving some for the top of the bread.
6. Grease a loaf pan or line with parchment paper, and fill the loaf pan with the batter.
7. Over the top of the batter, sprinkle the remaining pecans and chocolate chips, along with an additional tsp of pumpkin spice.
8. Bake for 40 minutes, let cool, and enjoy! Store in the fridge for best consistency and to make it last longer!
