Here is a recipe for banana bread that uses peanut butter to give it a really moist, nutty flavor. It’s also vegan and gluten-free! This peanut butter-banana bread could just as easily be made with almond butter or sunbutter, but I like peanut butter 🙂 This vegan banana bread is so easy to make and is perfect for breakfast or afternoon tea. It’s also super kid-friendly!
So, similar to my whole orange mini loaf cakes, I have been eager to improve my gluten free baking skills. Banana bread is such a staple; i knew i had to master this, stat.
it got me thinking, what is the history of banana bread? turns out, king arthur flour did a deep dive on banana bread.
in the depression era, people were really into conserving their food, to maximize its value. (i love that!) at the same time, chemical leaveners like baking soda and baking powder were starting to be more widely available. king arthur flour notes, “the desire to use overripe bananas, paired with the ready availability of baking powder, inspired a horde of enterprising cookbook writers to come up with recipes for banana “quick bread” (as opposed to yeast bread).”
banana bread recipes can vary wildly, but they really come down to a) using mashed bananas as a key ingredient b) adding a sweetener c) using a chemical leavener d) adding in flour and e) a fat.
since gluten free baking requires a little more liquid to hydrate the non gluteny grains, and a little more assistance from chemical leaveners to get some lift, this recipe uses mashed bananas in addition to vegetable oil, flax eggs, and peanut butter to hydrate and glue together all the ingredients. brown sugar is the sweetener, and bob’s red mill paleo flour is the flour. for 9″ quick breads, i like to use 2 teaspoon of baking soda and ½ teaspoon of baking powder to get some height on the thing. last, i used a little demerara sugar to make the top crunchy 🙂
Mimi Newman Peanut Butter-Banana Bread (Vegan, Gluten-Free)
- 3 bananas very ripe
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 3 tablespoons peanut butter
- 6 flax eggs
- 6 tablespoons ground flax seed + ¾ cup of water mixed together and let sit for 5 minutes to coagulate
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup bob’s red mill paleo flour
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons demerara sugar optional
- preheat oven to 350F and prepare a 9″ loaf pan – spray with cake spray or line with parchment paper
- in the bowl of a stand mixer, mash bananas until fully mushy
- add in the oil, peanut butter, flax eggs, and sugar, and mix to combine
- whisk together dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon) and then add in to wet ingredients – mix to *just* combine
- pour into prepared pan and sprinkle demerara sugar on top
- bake for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the sides of the loaf pull away from the pan
If you didn’t want to make this vegan/GF, feel free to use 5 eggs and ¾ cup of all-purpose flour Serving: 1sliceSodium: 468mgCalcium: 62mgVitamin C: 3mgVitamin A: 25IUSugar: 15gFiber: 5gPotassium: 313mgCalories: 260kcalSaturated Fat: 6gFat: 15gProtein: 5gCarbohydrates: 30gIron: 1mg