HEALTHY HOMEMADE BANANA BREAD (GLUTEN FREE)

I’m all about finding healthy recipes and making them even healthier! I’ve been using this recipe, adapted from Kookies and Cate, for a few years now.

I make it my own by using sprouted flours and adding seeds like chia and hemp to up the nutritiousness! Lately I’ve been using the Paleo flour by Bob’s Red Mill. It’s gluten free and works SO well in baking!

I love making this on the weekends and sometimes if the boys are up, they’ll help me… the smell is AMAZING and it pairs perfectly with my adaptogen coffee (recipe coming soon!).

When it’s done, we rejoice and indulge in yumminess. Okay, enough talk… Let’s do this:

HEALTHY HOMEMADE BANANA BREAD:

INGREDIENTS

• ⅓ cup melted coconut oil
• ½ cup maple syrup
• 2 pasture raised eggs
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 ½ medium or 2 large bananas)
• 1/2 cup milk nut milk (I use homemade cashew milk… here is a recipe to make your own)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon ground Ceylon cinnamon, plus more to swirl on top
• 1 and 3/4 cup gluten free flour. Any organic flours work well, sprouted spelt, einkorn, or regular baking flour… just know this won’t make it gluten free.

Optional ingredients:

• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 2 tbsp hemp seeds
• 1/2 cup organic raw walnuts (I usually put these on top on one side as the kids just haven’t taken to them yet.)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (165 degrees Celsius) and line a 9×5-inch loaf pan with unbleached parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, beat the oil and maple syrup together together with a whisk.
3. Add the eggs and beat well.
4. Whisk in the mashed bananas and milk.
5. In another bowl mix the dry ingredients: baking soda, vanilla, salt and cinnamon, and flour.
6. Combine the dry and wet ingredients together. Some lumps are ok! If you’re adding any additional mix-ins, gently fold them in now.
7. Pour the batter into your lined loaf pan. Make sure to center the parchment paper on the pan and poor slowly to mold the paper into the loaf pan. Then sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. If you’d like a pretty swirled effect, run the tip of a knife across the batter in a zig-zag pattern.
8. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (typically, if I haven’t added any mix-ins, my bread is done at 55 minutes; if I have added mix-ins, it needs closer to 60 minutes). Let the bread cool in the loaf pan for 10 minutes. Remove with parchment paper and slice.

Boom enjoy as-is or smothered in grass-fed butter!

Finding healthy recipes and adding your spin is part of the fun in creating food for your family. It’s fun to try new things and add more nourishment to your food. Make the creation process a family event as teaching our kids about healthy food lays the foundation for years to come.

Do you love banana bread? What would you add… or take away? Please share!

Live Hippily.. and make healthy recipes healthier!!