A huge passion of mine is working with alternative ingredients to create foods that we have become accustomed to eating, and by doing so making them healthier. One of my personal favourites is Banana Bread – lets be honest, this is something we have all grown up eating. I still remember my Gran’s banana bread, which was incredible! The thought of banana bread always conjures up good memories. So, how do we recreate this old favourite with gluten free, fructose free AND Vegan ingredients? Well, I gave it a bash and succeeded!
You may not be looking for alternative ingredients, so I have put the usual ingredient in brackets next to the alternative one. They are interchangeable!
Healthy Banana Bread
Gluten Free/Fructose Free/Vegan
Ingredients
3 small bananas, mashed
½ cup shaved coconut
2 tsp cinnamon
½ cup rice malt syrup (1/2 cup raw sugar)
5ml vanilla essence
100g coconut spread or coconut butter (100g butter/marg)
2 flax eggs (2 tbsp egg mixed with 60ml water) (2 organic eggs)
2 cups Chickpea flour (2 cups baking flour)
2 tsp baking powder (or use self raising flour)
Chopped walnuts
Method
Set the oven to 180C.
Line a bread baking tin.
Mix together the bananas, coconut, cinnamon, rice malt syrup and vanilla essence.
Add the melted coconut butter and the flax eggs.
Add the chickpea flour and baking powder.
Add chopped walnuts (optional)
Place the banana-bread-to-be in the oven for 25min. Test before removing from oven by inserting a skewer into the bread. If it comes out clean, the bread is ready.
Leave to cool for about 10min before cutting!