Better Banana Bread

I absolutely love baked goods, and those baked with banana are at the top of my list. The banana flavor and the dense sweetness of the bread gets me every time. I literally will have a third of a loaf for breakfast, a third for lunch, and a third for dinner. Ridiculous right? Maybe it is overindulgence spurned from trying to control myself, or maybe I really love it that much. Either way, it is not pretty.

This morning I woke to three bananas starting to brown and I decided it was time to find a compromise.  I started with the great Isa Chandra's banana bread recipe. I have been using this recipe for ten years and it is sooooo good. It was one of the first vegan recipes for baking that I tried, and it was such a relief to know I could bake vegan and live happily ever after.

To make a bread that I could eat with abandon, I knew I needed to make healthier swaps for the sugar, margarine, and flour. I used dates, brown rice syrup, coconut oil, and whole grain flours. I like dates because they naturally sweeten while adding fiber and other nutrients. The brown rice syrup is a kinder, gentler sweetener for your body to digest. I chose coconut oil for the fat because it had one ingredient, was not hydrogenated, and had no GMOs. The whole grains contain more nutrients and fiber than white flour.

Granted, it is a bit more work to grind oats into flour and blend dates into a paste, but the result was amazing. This banana bread is tender, moist and really really good. I am in love and free to indulge. Although, I found that with the fiber and nutritious ingredients I did not have those crazy cravings anymore and was more easily satisfied.

Better Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup date paste (1 cup whole dates)
1/2 cup brown rice syrup
1/2 cup coconut oil
3 ripe bananas (mashed)
1 tsp vanilla

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the soy milk with the apple cider vinegar and set aside to sour.

Use a powerful blender or food processor to process the dates into a paste with the brown rice syrup, and room temperature coconut oil. Add the soured soy milk and mashed bananas and pulse again to incorporate. In a separate bowl combine the whole wheat flour, oat flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir or pulse until it is just combined.

Put the batter into a greased bread pan and bake for 1 hour. Let cool and serve.

For 12 servings. Nutritional info from caloriecount.about.com.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 92 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories  255 Calories from Fat  89

% Daily Value*

Total Fat  9.9g 15%

Saturated Fat  8.0g 40%

Trans Fat  0.0g

Cholesterol  0mg 0%

Sodium  162mg 7%

Potassium  248mg 7%

Total Carbohydrates  41.9g 14%

Dietary Fiber  3.1g 13%

Sugars  21.6g

Protein  3.3g

Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 4% Calcium 2% • Iron 6%

Nutrition Grade D

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet