Gluten Free Banana Bread

Banana bread is one of those very delicious, very often not good for you (depending on the recipe) foods. This is a healthy, gluten free version, that you can enjoy without feeling even a tad bit guilty. You can even throw in some chocolate chips or cocoa and make it a dessert. So many possibilities! Just make sure when you're getting the ingredients you purchase the Gluten Free (GF) variety of items, like the chocolate chips, for example, or pure maple syrup instead of the fake kind, which can contain gluten.

Dry Ingredients

1 Cup Bob's Red Mill gluten free, all purpose baking flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp non-aluminum baking powder, such as Rumford's

1 tsp ground cinnamon or apple pie spice, or even pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1/4 tsp finely ground, unrefined sea salt (Celtic works good!)

Wet Ingredients

3 overripe bananas, mashed

1/4 cup coconut oil or Spectrum Shortening (or butter, if you don't mind dairy)

1/3 cup honey or maple syrup

1/3 cup unsweetened soy or nut milk (I prefer almond for this one)

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 

Optional for Chocolate Chip Banana Bread: 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips 

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees. Lightly oil an 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch loaf pan. Line the bottom and side with parchment paper. This will avoid the bread becoming stuck to the pan.

2. In a medium bowl whisk the fry ingredients. In another bowl, whisk the bananas with the shortening/oil, syrup, milk, and vanilla.

3. Add the banana mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. 

Optional: Fold in the chocolate chips

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 mins, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the bread to cool on a rack for 20 mins before turning it out. Let cool completely before slicing. 

An additional variation on this would be...

Chocolate Banana Bread: Replace 3 tablespoons of the gluten free flour with unsweetened cocoa powder. Omit chocolate chips from this version.

I got this recipe from my teacher, Rachel, who recreated it from Erin McKenna of Manhattan BabyCakes Bakery. Delicious!!

Plain and with Chocolate Chips. Yummy either way.

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