G-free Banana Bread

 

Truthfully I have been wanting to make this bread for awhile now. It’s not just that easy though, because several factors had to align for the time to be right.  I got these adorable mini-loaf pans for my birthday a few weeks ago, which I look at everyday and think how much they are begging to be used.

But then of course I had to wait for my bananas to be super ripe…which took longer than expected. See, bananas are probably one of my top five favorite foods, and I eat one every single morning. Needless to say, they don’t last long around here. When I want to make banana bread, I have to plan ahead and buy what resembles an embarrassing amount of bananas. You mean 12 bananas for one little person isn’t normal?? I finally restrained myself from finishing off the last three and let them hang around long enough to become nice and spotty and mushy.

Ok now we’ve got the tools and the ingredients, but the timing was also a crucial factor. I wanted to be able to enjoy my bread hot and fresh out of the oven, because really, what could possibly be better? So I should make the bread for breakfast, right? Well sure in theory that would be great, but since I’m normally at the starvation point 10 minutes after waking up, there was no way I could wait for these babies to bake in the morning. How about an afternoon snack? With dinner schedules planned out, that didn’t seem to work either. I knew my self-control would probably be lacking when faced with the aroma of freshly baked bread, so if I ate a snack (aka loaf) at 4:00, dinner at 6:00 would not be happening.

Anywaysss, today I just plain got tired of waiting and decided it was finally time. Ta-da! I present to you my first g-free banana bread recipe.

G-free Banana Bread

Makes 4 mini-loaves or 1 regular loaf

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups GF flour (I used Bob’s Gluten-Free AP)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

3 small-medium very ripe bananas (about 1 1/2 cups mashed)

1/4 cup applesauce

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.

3. In a small bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, bananas, applesauce and vanilla until fully combined.

4. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry.

5. Fold in chopped walnuts.

6. Transfer batter to 4 mini-loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Bake for 28-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

7. Allow loaves to cool on wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

The texture of the bread is just like regular quick breads—not crumbly or dry. I think cooking them in the mini-loaves helped with that. Plus they are just cuter that way! There is definitely room for experimentation (I’m thinking chocolate chips or PB…or both?!) and different flour combos next time.

I know myself well; the warm bread was so yummy that my appetite is definitely ruined for dinner. Sorry I’m not sorry.