Banana bread sounds good in theory right? It’s fruit – it must be healthy.

Nope, sorry. Most banana breads that you find in cafes are pretty well just glorified cake …. don’t get me wrong – they are super delicious, but just the healthy choice people think they’re making!

This recipe is a lot lower in sugar and has lot of extra goodies added to it. Still super delicious, but I am really happy to pop this one in lunch-boxes or enjoy at brunch or with an afternoon cuppa.

See below the recipe for a coeliac friendly option.

• 2 cups flour (Plain flour is fine but I have used mixes of spelt, barley and rye and they all work well too)
• 1/3 cup sugar (optional, but add it in if you’re a sweet tooth!)
• 2 rounded tsp GF baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon/mixed spice
• 1/2 cup milk of choice (oat, almond and rice work well)
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 medium, very ripe, bananas, mashed
• 75g vegan butter/tasteless coconut oil
• 50g maple syrup or honey*
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 3 tbsp seeds (use whichever are your favourite – process these first if you’d like less obvious bits). A small handful of chopped walnuts also works well here.
• 3 tbsp aquafaba (liquid drained from a can of chick peas) OR 1 whole egg
• rolled oats to top (or more sliced banana)

Into a large bowl add all of the dry ingredients. I don’t do sifting (ever if at all possible!), so I use a whisk to gently mix this dry mixture until it’s even.

In a large measuring jug, mix the milk and the vinegar and whisk vigorously for a minute. It should become slightly thicker and have lots of frothy bubbles on top. Then set aside for a few (3-4) minutes. Or blitz in your blender/nutribullet for a few seconds.

To the milk mix, add the mashed banana, oil, syrup, aquafaba/egg and vanilla and whisk until well combined. (or another few seconds in the blender/nutribullet)

*If you’d like an alternative to the honey or syrup, you can blend in 6 medjool dates to the wet mix

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, folding them in until just combined – don’t over mix.

Pour into a large greased loaf pan, sprinkle oats on top and bake at 180C for about an hour, or until a skewer, inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack for another 10-15 minutes.

I also make these into muffins when I don’t have as much baking time – makes 18-20.

This is yummy as is, or with a bit of butter, or even toasted. It freezes and defrosts well, just slice and wrap individually before freezing.

Enjoy … as I currently am, with a cuppa 🙂

To make these coeliac friendly, use 1 2/3 cups of GF flour mix (I like Bobs Red Mill All purpose baking flour) plus 2 flat tsp of psyllium and make sure you use a gluten free milk then top with rolled quinoa or use the extra banana option.

To make these in a thermal cooker:

Whisk the milk and vinegar and set aside (Speed 4, 10 seconds).

Place the bananas, oil, vanilla, aquafaba/egg and syrup in the bowl and process on speed 5 for 8 seconds.

Add in milk mixture and process on speed 4 for 8 seconds. Then set aside the wet mix.

Add all of the dry ingredients to the machine and process on speed 4 for 8 seconds.

Add the wet mix back into the dry and process on speed 4 for 6 seconds, the scrape down and repeat.

Bake as per regular method.