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I have always been a little nervous to tackle my own loaf of banana bread because my grandmother bakes the best banana bread, EVER. But I had a bunch of ripe bananas in my kitchen, and enough frozen bananas to make me enough smoothies to last a lifetime (not that I could ever have too many bananas), so I decided to give it a try. This Sugar-Free Banana Loaf is the perfect morning snack, or afternoon treat with tea. I love it because it’s actually not too sweet, but you could always add some maple syrup to sweeten to your liking. My tolerance for wheat has gone up, so I even used some whole wheat flour, but you can definitely sub this for an all-purpose gluten free flour, it just may not hold together as well as this guy does. I used a classic coffee cake pan, with the little mountain in the middle, which created the hole (and is super fun). The crushed walnuts are like the cherry on top to this loaf, but you could also sub them for some dark chocolate chips, chopped dates or other dried fruit! I love spreading some almond butter on top of this loaf, or some local honey if I really need something sweet. I think you guys will really enjoy this loaf, it’s such a nice staple to have in your kitchen for grabbings snacks on-the-go.
Sugar was one of the first things to go from my diet when I decided to change my lifestyle to cure my IBS and digestive problems. I haven’t cooked or baked with sugar in over 2 years, and I can’t imagine going back. There are just so many amazing alternatives to baking with sugar that have much higher nutritional value. My favourite natural sweetener to use is 100% pure Canadian maple syrup, but I also love honey or agave syrup and sometimes use coconut sugar if I’m making cookies. Fruit is also a great natural sweetener. My favourite sweet fruits are bananas, dates, apples and applesauce, pears and mangoes. They all work great in baking, smoothies and porridge. I would love to hear about your favourite natural ways to sweeten your meals!
- 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or scrape 1 vanilla bean
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 whole wheat flour
- 1 and a half cups of almond flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- half a tsp nutmeg
- 3 large very ripe spotty bananas
- a handful of chopped walnuts
- optional: 1/4 cup maple syrup, any other mix-ins you desire (dates, chocolate chips, dried apricot)
- Preheat oven to 325F.
- In a bowl, whisk the coconut oil, eggs, vanilla and water with a fork until well combined.
- In a seperate bowl, mix the wheat four, almond flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- In a blender, add all of the ingredients with the spotty bananas. If you don’t have a blender handy, you can always just mix the two together and then mash the bananas in really well with a fork.
- Fold in the walnuts, and if you like, the maple syrup (recommended). Add any other fruit you desire.
- Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Take the loaf out of the oven, flip it out of the pan and sprinkle with coconut flakes for a fun decoration. Let the loaf cool for about 25 minutes before slicing it into sections. Enjoy warm or room-temperature with coconut butter, honey or almond butter. Store in a sealed tupperware in a dry place or in the fridge.
- The riper the bananas, the better your banana bread will taste. Using brown bananas will give you the sweetest and strongest flavour, but spotty ripe bananas work well, too.
- For a gluten free version, substitute the wheat flour for an all-purpose gluten free flour.
sugar-free banana bread
sugar-free banana bread
