Looking for a delicious, moist chocolately banana bread that’s cruelty free and filled with goodness? Look no further!
Ingredients:
6 ripe bananas
¼ cup oil (I use coconut oil – melt in microwave for a few seconds if solid)
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
¼ cup agave syrup
8 chopped dates
3 cups flour (I typically use a combination of non-wheat flours such as buckwheat or spelt plus 1 tsp xanthum gum for a gluten-free loaf – but you can use regular white baking flour too, in which case you can omit the xanthum gum)
2/3 cup oat bran or wheat germ (use oat bran if you want the loaf to be gluten-free)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup vegan dark chocolate chips (or more if you’d like the loaf to be more chocolatey!)
Method:
Preheat oven to 375 deg F. Grease large size loaf pan with small amount of coconut or other oil.
Mash bananas until very mushy. Add oil, lemon juice, agave syrup and dates, and stir together. Set aside.
In a separate large bowl, stir together flour, xanthum gum (if using), oat bran or wheat germ, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
Add the banana mixture to the dry ingredients and mix gently with a wooden spoon until just mixed (i.e. the dry ingredients are folded into the wet ingredients – don’t over mix or mix too vigorously). Add the chocolate chips and gently fold in.
Spoon into the loaf pan and spread out to ensure even distribution.
Bake for 50 – 55 minutes (test at 50 minutes – if knife comes out clean, you’re good to go!). I move my oven rack up to ensure that the bottom of the loaf doesn’t burn while the rest of the loaf is baking – it’s quite a dense dough, so I find this ensures even baking.
Let stand on cooling rack in pan for about 20 minutes. Gently pry loaf away from pan edges, give it a little shake to loosen and turn over onto cooling rack. If it’s sticking, leave it a few more minutes so that the top of the loaf doesn’t come apart from the bottom! Enjoy while warm!
Adapted from “How It All Vegan” by Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard
Great post-race or long run fuel too!
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