Can we all just agree that the best part of a muffin is the sweet, crispy crumble on top? The muffin top, per se. We wanna eat the muffin top, but not make our belly look like one.
So, as Bare Nutrition would do, we naturally started thinking about a healthier way to eat a muffin top without making our waistline look like one (see some of our other healthy makeovers, like these lemon cookies and this vegan mac n cheese) .
And since we’ve been on a HUGE banana bread kick lately, our minds went directly to thinking, “there needs to be a marriage of crispy, crumbly muffin top and banana bread.” We also got a weirdly specific craving for Snickerdoodle cookies, maybe it was the Christmas season or maybe it was just a sweet tooth.
Anyway.... That’s how this Snickerdoodle Crumble Top Banana Bread was born, and oh we are so glad it came to be. *drool*
It took a few tries (and trust us, we had no issue with all the fast-testing), but we finally got it right. Healthy recipes are tricky, because naturally gluten free flours (I.e. coconut, almond, oat, etc.) all have different ratios from traditional all purpose, enriched flours and all behave differently when baked and when liquids or oil are added to them.
After messing around with a few different flours, experimenting with a vegan flax “egg” version, a recipe with less coconut oil, more coconut oil... you get the picture, we think we came up with the right compromise between a super healthy, dietary restiction-friendly bread, and a super delicious bread.
What we came to was an almond flour bread that does use eggs. We tested the vegan version with flax egg and it just didn’t hold together and get fluffy like we wanted. It is gluten free, dairy free, and refined sugar free— just lightly sweetened with a little coconut sugar and coconut nectar. Give it a try! Sooo satisfying when you want a sweet treat.
Ingredients
Bread:
3 medium spotty, ripe bananas 3 eggs 1/4 C Sunbutter (may also omit and double almond butter) 1/4 C almond butter 2 Tbsp coconut nectar (or organic pure maple) 1 Tbsp vanilla extract 2 Tbsp coconut oil 2 1/3 C blanched almond flour 2 tsp cacao powder 1 tsp ginger powder 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp vanilla bean powder (may also omit) A couple dashes of cardamom and nutmeg 1 tsp baking powder
Crumble:
1/4 C almond flour
1/4 C coconut flour
2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp coconut sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Instructions 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 2. Start making the bread batter: Smash bananas with a fork in a large mixing bowl. 3. Add in remaining wet ingredients: eggs, coconut nectar, sunbutter, almond butter, vanilla, and coconut oil. Whisk together until smooth, or use an electric mixer. 4. Add in dry bread batter ingredients: flour, spices, cacao powder, vanilla bean powder, and baking powder. Whisk together until fairly smooth and well combined. 5. Grease a loaf pan or line with parchment paper, and fill with the batter. 6. Bake for 15 minutes to start. Meanwhile make the crumble.
7. Combine all ingredients and mix with a blender or food processor. The mixture will be, well... crumbly!
8. Remove the loaf from the over, add the crumble topping, then place back in the oven.
9. Bake for one hour.
10. Allow to cool before slicing. Store in the fridge to make it last longer, or will be good on the counter for a couple days!
