I am, what you might call, a recovering carb-ivore. In my younger years I lived on carbs! Because, you know, runners. They “need” carbs. (Not really.) So, I ate bagels for breakfast, and sandwiches for lunch, and pasta for dinner, and pretzels and animal crackers in between.
And then I started learning about nutrition, and I started eating more protein (and it no longer took a week to recover from a weight workout!). And then I learned even more about nutrition and my body’s unique needs, and I started eating more fats. Not only do I feel a ton better, have more energy (3:00 slump, anyone?), and have exponentially better digestion, but I noticed my body’s cues for food have changed, too. If I am really, really hungry, I will crave something with fat and protein to actually make me feel full and satisfied.
However, some things just don’t change, and this girl loves breakfast sweets! Now, I do really love eggs for breakfast most days because they are yummy AND keep me feeling satiated until my next meal, but I have never stopped loving breakfast baked goods. They are my VERY favorite–scones, cinnamon rolls, muffins, bread. I LOVE them all! I know that a “normal” sugar and flour laden scone will leave me feeling lousy for the day (or catch up with me later), so oftentimes I don’t have a problem saying “no” to something like that, but there are plenty of other times when I want a baked good that tastes great AND doesn’t leave me falling asleep standing up. Also, sometimes we don’t have leisurely breakfasts because we have somewhere we need to be, and I need something I can throw at my kids that I know is still nutrient dense, real food.
Now, I kinda’ feel like I have been around the block when it comes to paleo recipes.When I started my journey into real food/gluten free baking, Pinterest was really my best option. There weren’t tons of cookbooks out there yet that I had found. So, I baked my way across the paleo interwebs only to be left a bit wanting. Not that every recipe was horrible, but they just weren’t great. My husband would not touch a paleo baked good with a ten foot pole!
Hubs: “If muffins aren’t good for you, just don’t have them very often.”
Me: “But I want to have them every day.”
So, let’s talk about banana bread. This is just a staple baked good. There are even people that don’t like bananas that like banana bread. Come on! It’s bread! So many recipes I tried relied so heavily on almond flour and coconut flour, that I just found every one of them to be so soggy! Bake them until they have the right moisture content on the inside, and they are black on the outside! Big problem.
But, this recipe here? Not soggy! Plus, you make this in a blender! Easy clean up AND super fast to whip up. So much winning right here!
And what about the Hubs? Well, I finally convinced him to just take a bite, and, well, he ate the whole thing. It took him 24 hours to admit it, but he finally said, “Okay, those were definitely the best of their kind.” That might sound like an underhanded compliment, but lemme tell ya, the hubs does not do gluten free baked goods, and this was his way of saying even he liked them! The kids, well, they devoured them.
A few notes…
- You could sub in different nut or seed butters if almond butter doesn’t work for you. For best results, try to use a nut butter that contains only nuts (not oils or sweeteners.)
- I have made this recipe into muffins with good success! They did take about 30 minutes to bake though which surprised me (most muffins take about 20), but they worked well. I used muffin pan liners to make it easy.
- Chocolate chips?! Who doesn’t want some in their banana bread? Well, I guess maybe someone doesn’t. In which case, leave them out or sub in pecans or walnuts. If you are down with chocolate chips, I love these dairy and soy free ones!
So here we go!
- 2 large eggs
- ½ c. almond butter
- ½ c. maple syrup
- 2 overripe bananas (the blacker the better!)
- 3 T. palm shortening, plus more for greasing the pan
- 2 t. fresh lemon juice
- 1 t. vanilla extract
- ½ c. arrowroot powder
- 1 T. cinnamon
- 2 t. baking powder
- ¼ t. sea salt
- ½ c. chocolate chips
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8½ by 4½ inch loaf pan with palm shortening. Place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom of the pan.
- In a high-speed blender or food processor, combine the eggs, almond butter, maple syrup, bananas, palm shortening, lemon juice, and vanilla. Make sure everything is well blended, smooth and creamy.
- Add the arrowroot starch, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Blend again until thoroughly combined.
- Add the chocolate chips and blend for a few seconds until just combined (or pulse a few times if using a food processor).
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for about 45 minutes and check for doneness. If the loaf is looking a bit dark on top but a toothpick inserted in the center does not come out clean, cover with aluminum foil and bake for another 5-15 minutes. (Mine takes 50 minutes, but ovens vary.)
- When a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Then, remove the loaf from the pan and allow it to continue cooling on a wire rack before eating (if you can wait that long!).
Adapted from Meals Made Simple by Danielle Walker.
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