Seems like everyone has a recipe for banana bread these days! No one is complaining, either. It’s probably one of my favorite things to eat, EVER. I was going to start this post by saying: “Am nuts over this new banana bread recipe!” but: (1) I’m starting to sound inadvertently cheesy. (2) this banana bread is nut-free, so that would just sound weird.

If you must know, I’ve been baking since before I knew how to ride a bike. Banana muffins and banana bread were the very first thing on my beginner baker’s agenda. A lot of you ask me where I get the inspo from or how did I start baking, and it all comes down to one sentence: I got it from my mama! She’s responsible for this baking bug and this passion for creating food and enjoying it with those I care about. I’m sure she’ll hear about this from my dad- who is like; my number one reader and the very first blog subscriber. He also loves to weigh in on my food photography and will eagerly call me out if he thinks my pictures look messy or too artsy or what not. Gotta love him! 🙂

So back to banana bread business! Friends, there IS a magic old-school formula. My mom and I used to make it with the following universal ratio: 2 cups of flour called for 1 cup of sugar, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of butter & 4 ripe bananas. And then sea salt, baking soda, a pinch of apple cider vinegar to activate the baking soda etc. It was an easy recipe. But, I’ve reworked our go-to formula to make it much, much healthier. Goodbye white sugar & white, bleached flour. Goodbye non-organic butter. Goodbye gluten & goodbye processed chocolate chips with modified-milk ingredients. Goodbye hormone-laden dairy milk.

This banana bread is nut, gluten, dairy, & refined sugar free (and has flaxseed egg instructions for vegan options). I’ve written only one banana bread recipe in the past, and that one is a paleo (and GF) Peanut Butter & Chocolate Banana Bread. So I wanted to try something totally different this time. The best thing about this recipe: I’ll give you 3 different flour substitution options that work just as well. So you don’t have to scramble and get the exact same flour I used. You can if you want, but options are always nice. Am I right?

You see; with coconut flour, you guys can’t really substitute another flour in equal measurements.  It’s near impossible, because there’s no other flour that will only use 1/2 cup to magically absorb, expand & create banana bread. Only coconut flour can produce a loaf with so little.  So I went with an all-purpose gluten free flour blend. And instead of the 1/2 cup of peanut butter or butter I tried this recipe against: sunflower butter, coconut oil & a vegan butter spread, Earth Balance. All three worked very well.  All three are nut-free & also solid vegan options.

And the secret to groundbreaking banana bread is: it’s ALL in the bananas! Go big & make sure they’re really ripe. Friends, go to your local grocery store and ask them for the super spotty bananas they are about to throw out. They’ll be happy to send you home with plenty. These blackened bananas are literally banana bread gold! I keep them in my fridge and bring them out right before am ready to bake. You simply can’t compete with the banana bread these blackened bananas yield. And I mean blackened on the outside, only.

So let’s get to it. You will love this one! xx