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Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

April 23, 2018 · Natalie 43 Comments

The yummiest paleo vegan Chocolate Chip Banana Bread – easy, naturally-sweetened, so moist, and full of chocolate chips for a healthy snack or dessert!

Three things a person cannot have too much of: 1) ripe bananas 2) mini chocolate chips 3) banana bread recipes.

Because when the bunch of bananas you’ve been staring at for 4 days finally decides to stop teasing and go all speckle-y soft and sweet – blend a smoothie, freeze for nice cream, caramelize those coins, batch of banana bread or breakfast cookies here we come. And if there was a sign-up list for a lifetime supply of mini chocolate chips – take my money and give me a pen! And banana bread. Now that’s a near perfect food that deserves to be made every way possible. So even infinity would not be too much.

Perfect food, aye? Think about it for a minute: Bananas are good for moisture without butter/oil, naturally sweet becomes naturally even sweeter as they bake, plus they are kinda bind-y so that takes care of the whole egg issue. And bread is good for the soul.

So we love bananas + bread ALL the ways ♡

Chocolate chips in banana bread. As if that hasn’t been done a thousand times by everyone and their neighbor’s grandma’s best friend. I know, I know, I know. But that’s not the part of this story that’s meant to make you all: how have I existed so long without THIS loaf in my life?

Based on my googling, the groundbreaking (humble, I know) part of this recipe is that it’s VEGAN and PALEO. That means no eggs, no grains, no added sugar. And also (if you’ve attempted vegan/paleo nana bread before you’ll know exactly what I mean here) no death valley in the center of the loaf after it cools. We expect our lovingly made loaves to maintain their stature after baking. Only the highest of standards here.

Now I gotta tell ya, there were a few sunk-below-sea-level batches in the beginning. So to avoid that tragedy:

Don’t mess with the flours/ratio. This recipe uses almond flour, coconut flour, and tapioca flour. You need all three to get the right texture. Just almond > too moist/dense. Skip the tapioca > crumbly mess. Just coconut > crumblier mess. It’s gotta be a team effort.
Let it bake and cool thoroughly. In my oven it took 50 minutes, but better to err on the side of an extra five then take it out too early. If the center feels even a little mushy, LEAVE IT. And let it cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
Measure by weight. This is one of those times where slight errors in measurement can make a difference, so I highly recommend using a kitchen scale.

I’m not trying to scare you with all the warnings, I am just deeply committed to bringing you the best banana bread experience possible. Anything less would be a waste of precious mini chips.

Maybe I have been on a two slices a day streak all week with this stuff. Maybe I did take two (okay…three) breaks while writing this very post to wander to the fridge and break off a hunk. Maybe I do love it cold and three-day-old-fudgy just as much as fresh and fluffy. Maybe it is the BEST vegan paleo banana bread recipe the internet has been needing. Just putting it out there.

Try it. Be the judge. Find yourself visiting the fridge an absurd number of times in the span of 45 minutes because rich, banana sweet, chocolate-studded bread is not something that was made to be resisted. And I will be here anxiously awaiting your feedback!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

★★★★★ 5 from 5 reviews

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Yield: 8 slices 1x
Category: quickbreads
Method: baking
Cuisine: american

Print Recipe

Description

The yummiest paleo vegan Chocolate Chip Banana Bread – easy, naturally-sweetened, so moist, and full of chocolate chips for a healthy snack or dessert!

Ingredients

Scale

3 (300-325g) overripe bananas
1/4 cup (60g) nondairy milk (I used almond)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 1/2 cup (275g) almond flour
1/2 cup (60g) tapioca starch
1/3 cup (40g) coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup (60g) chocolate chips

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Blend the bananas, milk, vanilla, and apple cider vinegar until smooth.
Add the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Blend until combined, stopping to scrape down the sides as necessary (it should be very thick).
Stir in the chocolate chips.
Transfer the batter to a greased loaf pan and smooth the top.
Bake for approximately 50 minutes at 350F. It should be golden brown on top and the center should be firm to the touch. If it feels at all squishy, leave it for another 5 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. It will get more dense/fudgy with time, but still delicious.

Notes

No coconut flour? Try THIS recipe instead. Prefer oat flour? Try THIS recipe instead.

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1 slice
Calories: 316
Sugar: 11
Fat: 20
Carbohydrates: 30
Fiber: 7
Protein: 9

Keywords: baking, banana, easy, healthy, paleo, gluten-free, chocolate

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Chocolate Fig Snack Bars

April 19, 2018 · Natalie 18 Comments

Chocolate Fig Snack Bars! Chewy fruit-sweetened base, puffed millet plus a mix of healthy seeds, semi-sweet chocolate on top – hello new favorite no-bake snack!

I am on a major no-bake bar kick. It’s following close on the heels of my turmeric cookie kick. And by “kick” I mostly just mean many many batches of these made and devoured at an inappropriate rate. But the whole variety is the key to health/life applies to different flavors of no-bake bars too, right? I mean it’s basically the same as rotating your greens.

These Chocolate Fig Snack Bars are how we fulfill our love for rice crispy treats while still feeling like adults. Replace cereal with puffed millet. Replace marshmallows with dried figs. Replace no chocolate coating on top with a snappy layer of semi-sweet. Throw in cinnamon, sea salt, and a mix of seeds. Just look at us being all sophisticated.

What’s the deal with puffed millet? Dare I say it’s kinda having a moment on top of smoothie bowls and jars all over instagram these days. I’m sure you’ve seen it, those pale little puff balls that at first glance look like a) buckwheat groats b) hemp seeds or c) tiny packing peanuts. They’re not much for flavor, but the texture of those feather-light little dots does yummy things for a creamy bowl. Sometimes you don’t need the loud and crunchy of granola. Sometimes subtle and puffy is just right.

If you’re currently like: what is she even talking about? This is what I mean. Btw I’m crushing pretty hard on that account right now, which may or may not be where this whole puffed millet thing all started.

Sprinkly smoothie bowl toppings inspiring figgy no bake bars – instagram, this is you using your powers for good.

Now that the why millet? part is answered, let’s talk about this flavor situation. It’s another inspired tale that started with a bowl. This bowl. I am nowhere near done loving figs + chocolate, these snack bars are just a chewy transportable way to carry on the happy of that combination.

Fun fact: figs act as the sugar and the glue in these no-bake bars too, so that means the ingredient list is short and (naturally!) sweet.

We also went the whole dash-of-cinnamon-and-sprinkle-of-sea-salt route, because any granola bar worth your time has those things going for it.

Puffy, fig-sweetened, nutritiously seed-filled base. Glossy, almost-candy treatment on top. Toasted coconut because un-toasted coconut doesn’t look nearly as groovy.

You don’t need me to tell you that you and your tiny humans and your friends and your dog (minus the chocolate) will adore these. You don’t need me to tell you that easy + healthy + snack is the best kind of recipe. You don’t need me to tell you how pack-able and meal prep perfect they are. And you definitely don’t need me to tell you how cutting them into twelve bars instead of nine so that it feels very normal to eat two at a time was the best decision I made.

You just need to try them. Then you’ll know EXACTLY what I mean.