I love a good banana bread. The sweet and savoury flavour mixed with a golden crust just gets me every time, especially when the bread comes right out of the oven and still has a bit of warmth to it. The only thing that always bothered me, was that many banana breads were very oily or just had too many ingredients I loved, but my body didn’t. So I went on a search for some alternatives and of course the mighty Internet delivered.
The sheer amount of recipes was overwhelming and somehow each recipe did not give me the desired result. One turned out too soggy, another resembled a stone and the next was lacking flavour and the non-debatable crust. Seemed like I had to get my hands dirty and cook up a recipe by myself. Fast forward to today where I present you my “Loaded Banana Bread” recipe. Yep, loaded, because this baby is packed with all the goodies that tickle my taste buds and won’t disappoint yours either. Let’s get bananas!
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 4 ripe bananas
- 3 chopped dates
- 1 chia egg -> 2 tbsp chia seeds with 6 tbsp water
- 120ml almond milk
- 60gr unsalted almond butter
- 200gr flour
- 110gr oats
- 200gr ground almonds
- 12gr baking powder
- Pinch of baking soda
- Cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- 60gr chopped walnuts
Toppings:
- 30gr chopped walnuts
Make sure to get bananas that are very ripe (black spots are the best indicator), since they pack more flavour and sweetness and are easier to mash. If your local supermarket or fruit store doesn’t have any, you can always buy in bulk and have the bananas ripen at home. In my experience it takes up to one week until they are perfect. But now on to the recipe.
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Prepare your baking form with baking paper or use a silicone mould and skip that step. I used my Kitchen Aid with hook attachment for this recipe, but if you don’t have one, this recipe will also work with some arm muscle.
To substitute eggs in this recipe, I used a chia egg that will hold the dough together. Mix the chia seeds with the water and let it sit for 10 minutes. The chia seeds will soak up the water and become pudding like.
Now get a medium sized bowl and squash the bananas until they have formed a gooey mix. I like to leave in some chunks of banana instead of squashing them all, but that’s up to your taste.
Add the almond milk, almond butter, salt and cinnamon to the banana goo. I love cinnamon, so I always use a lot, so add as much as you personally prefer. Mix until well combined.
Next up add the flour, baking powder and baking soda and make sure the dough is well mixed. You could also add the oats and ground almonds at the same time, but I find that the bowl gets a bit too full like this. Add the ground almonds to the dough and mix. Repeat the same step for the oats.
Once the mixture is smooth, you can add the chopped dates that will give that delicious sweetness to the banana bread. I personally prefer to fold them in with a spatula so that they don’t break up too much.
Add your chopped walnuts and fold them in again with the spatula. Pour the dough into the baking form and smooth the top with your trusted spatual. Sprinkle the chopped walnuts on top. They will enhance the beautiful crust of the banana bread with that extra crunch.
Load your banana bread into the oven and bake for 1 hour. The bread will rise a lot, so don’t worry about that. Once your bread is finished baking and has that wonderful golden-brown crust, you can take it out of the oven. Transfer the bread onto a metal roast to let it cool down.
Once cooled down, cut yourself a generous slice and enjoy!
Special gourmet tip: Spread some (vegan) butter on your slice, drizzle with some almond butter and top off with a few raspberries and chopped pistachios.
