Recipe: Gluten-Free Vegan Banana Bread

Gluten-Free Vegan Banana Bread?  

My husband's first question was..."What does THAT mean?  Is this some weirdo thing made with chickpeas and seaweed?"  (You see, my husband thinks that anything healthy is made with chickpeas or seaweed.  Or Kale.  Sometimes he thinks there's Kale involved.)  

Sigh.  "No.  No chickpeas or seaweed here, Babe."

No gluten or eggs either.  😉 

But YES, we do have bananas!  Ha!  And Gluten-free flour.  And a few other ingredients that my husband would consider "normal" (or at least "semi-normal").  

The best part is, this is a no-fuss recipe.  Quick and easy-breezy.  No waiting for flax "eggs" to thicken, no grinding your oats into oat flour, no scooping that last bit of almond butter out of the giant Costco-sized jar and getting it all over your entire hand...instead, it's just easy.  

It's not a fluffy banana bread so if you like that kind, stop right here and forget about making this recipe. This is the dense kind of banana bread.  Which I really like.  And surprisingly, hubby liked it too.  (Which is unusual for ANY gluten-free baked good.)

So here goes...let's see what you think!

Gluten-Free Vegan Banana Bread

  Ingredients:

• 1½ cups gluten free flour  (I used Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour)
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 large or 4 medium completely ripe bananas - no green! Use the mushy ones             that you are just about ready to throw out.
• ½ cup coconut sugar or organic evaporated cane sugar
• ½ cup melted coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  Optional Ingredients:

• Cinnamon
• Walnuts or Pecans
• Dairy-Free Chocolate Chips

  Directions:

1. Position rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat the bottom and sides of an 8-inch loaf pan with a little coconut oil. (I actually don't own one, so I used a square 4 cup pyrex glass baking dish...) Set aside,
2. Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl; set aside.
3. In a larger bowl, use a potato masher to mash the bananas and sugar together until broken down but still a little chunky. Stir in oil and vanilla until combined.
4. Add dry mix to the wet mix and stir until just combined. Add any "Optional Ingredients" that you'd like to use and again, stir to combine.  Spread into prepared pan.
5. Bake for about 45 minutes then turn oven down to 325°F and continue to bake for about 10 to 15 minutes more or until a bamboo skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. (Hint: Cover loosely with aluminum foil if the loaf is browning too quickly.)
6. Cool pan on rack for about 20 minutes, then slice and ENJOY!