Paleo Banana Bread

In a quest to cut/limit sugar and in general eat a little healthier, I have been adapting my diet to be more paleo-esque. I don’t know that I could ever or would ever want to go totally paleo because I love cheese too much, but when I can cut a corner here and there and aspire to paleo-ness I like to do it. Typically, low-carb or paleo adaptations of things are good if you’re lucky but a far cry from the original item you know and love. I have to say that this is most definitely NOT the case with this banana bread!

It is really delicious and holds together quite well despite having no flour in it. I think I even like it better than traditional banana bread! In the future I’d like to take this recipe and adapt it to a carrot cake bread or maybe an apple/cranberry bread… who knows.

I recommend eating this bread straight up, with a nut butter of your choice, or toasted with a smear of coconut oil, as seen in the pic above. This bread was also well loved by our 18 month-old, making it toddler approved.

Here is the recipe (followed exactly from this one):

Perfect Paleo Banana Bread
(Recipe adapted from Comfy Belly)

Ingredients:

3/4 teaspoon of baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup of almond flour
1/4 cup of coconut flour
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
2 large eggs
2 very ripe medium to large bananas, mashed
1/4 cup of maple syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 9 x 5 loaf pan by either oiling the dish or lining with parchment paper. (I’m a big fan of the parchment paper for easy removal from pan and easy clean up.)

In a medium bowl, whisk together baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and flours. In a separate small bowl, mix together coconut oil, eggs, bananas, maple syrup and vanilla until very well combined.

Add wet ingredients to the dry and gently mix together until combined. Do not overmix.

Pour batter in prepared pan and bake for 45-55 minutes or until set in the center and a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pan for about 15-20 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: 1 loaf

I made this bread twice in a span of about 4 days and one tip I have in regard to the recipe has to do with the coconut oil. It’s probably because it is so cold out, but the first time I made the bread I added the coconut oil to the liquids and by the time I had everything else measured and was ready to mix the wet ingredients to the dry, the coconut oil had become a solid again. It became like dry candle wax, so I had to like break it up and try to evenly distribute it, but it was very chunky.  The second time around, I mixed everything together except the coconut oil and before pouring into the baking dish, I heated up the oil, added it and mixed it in so it would be consistent throughout the bread. I suppose in the summer this will be a moot point and I can’t wait for that!

-E