Go Bananas Before It's Too Late

Summer is coming, so make this delightful chocolate banana bread recipe before it's too hot to use your oven.

Photo by Leah Lizarondo
 

Spring’s brief tenure is passing quickly, and I am desperately trying to salvage the final days of cool ambient temperature in my home. My fans are on overdrive. The blinds are drawn religiously when the sun is up. Unfortunately, my au naturel days are numbered. With the mercury rising this week, I know this fleeting respite of non-HVAC-assisted comfort is coming to an abrupt end.

This week, along with my jeans and everything else that’s sartorially snug, I’m giving my oven its last hurrah of the season.

With all the windows open and all the fans running, I fire up my oven and prepare a succession of favorites that I know I’ll crave but won’t have the will to make when the humidity levels in Pittsburgh reach “WHY?!” levels.

This Chocolate Banana Bread is one of them. It is undoubtedly one of my favorite quick-bread recipes. It’s a soft, chocolatey and cakey treat so good that I’ve never known the lifespan of a loaf to last more than a day.

  Chocolate Banana Bread

From Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen, with adaptations
Gluten-free, Vegan

Dry Ingredients:

• 1 ¾ cup teff flour (I use a combination of whatever fine gluten-free flours I have – teff, amaranth, brown rice, sorghum)
• ¼ cup arrowroot
• 6 tablespoons cocoa powder (I like Penzey’s high fat cocoa)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon sea salt

Wet Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons ground chia seeds (I often do not bother to grind them)
• ¼ cup warm water
• 1 ½ cups mashed banana (about 4 large ripe bananas)
• ¾ cup coconut sugar or Sucanat
• ½ cup melted coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon sunflower butter
• 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• ½ cup rice milk (or any alternative milk)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Optional Additions:

• Chocolate chips (I like the Enjoy Life brand)
• Chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 4.5 x 8.5-inch bread pans with coconut oil.

2.  In a small bowl, mix 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar and ½ cup rice milk and let it curdle.

3.  In another bowl, soak the chia seeds in ¼ cup warm water, whisk to combine well. If using whole seeds, set aside and let it gel. If using ground seeds, mix with the wet ingredients.

4.  In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients.

5.  Whisk together all the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix together using a large wooden spoon.

6.  Pour batter into the two bread pans. Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes.

7.  Cool for about 20 minutes and then remove bread from pans and continue to cool on a wire rack.