Chocolate Chip Pecan Banana Bread (gluten-free)
Ah, holiday time.
The time we love to dread and dread to love. Or is that just me?
Baked goods everywhere, endless (usually unhealthy) meals with family, the family time itself.
Exercise gets pushed aside, time gets crunched into said family visits, and routine goes right out the window. Bye, Routine!
Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy the holidays and everything it brings.
It’s the perfect time to reflect on the year past and embrace those festively shared traditions. Spending time with family, eating baked goods, sipping on [hard] cider, and listening to holiday music. The double-edged sword always makes me happy and slightly crazy.
Crazy?
Crazy!
I’ll be traveling back East this holiday season and with it comes all of those wonderful things I mentioned above. I’m absolutely looking forward to meeting new people (boyfriends’ extended family) and eating amazing food but the one thing I’ll miss more than anything (besides my comfy bed) will be my beloved routine.
With so much to do, see, and places to be, one of the dearest things to me that flees (and keeps me sane) will be set aside.
Without routine, I feel a little disjointed, like I’m missing something. Because I am missing something, right!? Order… I love it.
But at least this holiday season, routine aside, I do have family, love, traveling!, and banana bread. And nothing can go wrong with banana bread.
Chocolate chips dotted throughout, crisp pecans dancing on top, ripe bananas sweetening each bite.
Although not Paleo, this gluten-free (and can be dairy-free!) banana bread offers comfort and warmth in times of uncertainty ;). It is packed with protein, fiber, low in sugar, and is actually quite healthy when you get down to what some bananas breads are.
Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Pecan Banana Bread
- 1 cup Bob’s Red Mill gluten free flour blend
- 1 cup old fashioned, gluten-free oats
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 eggs
- 3-4 ripe bananas
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar or sweetener of choice
- 1 1/3 cup applesauce
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- chocolate chips/pecans/almonds/etc – as many as you’d like (I used about 1/4 cup roasted hazelnuts + 1/4+ cup chocolate chips) – for dairy free, use Enjoy Life Dairy-Free Chocolate Chips
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 5×9″ loaf baking pans and set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine flours, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, add bananas, eggs, and sugar and mix together, mashing the bananas until only small chunks remain. Add in the applesauce, vanilla extract and mix again.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until JUST combined. Allow to sit for 5 minutes and mix again, only slightly, if some of the flour has not completely mixed in. You don’t want to over-stir the batter.
Pour into your two slightly greased loaf pans. Place in the oven and bake for 50 minutes or until the middle is cooked through – 40-60 minutes.
Remove from oven and eat warm or let cool and devour, as needed. π