(in case you didn't know, bananas can also be used as guns)
My house is full of boys.
Cousins to be exact.
My brother and sister-in-law (John Mark and Tammy) are currently in Uganda to bring home their new daughter and their two boys, Jude and Moses, are having a giant sleep over at Duke’s house for a few days.
All the boys were full of energy this morning (wait… when are they not full of energy?) and the clouds were pouring buckets outside. So, after hours of Nerf gun wars, action figure battles and karate matches… we decided to bake.
Growing up, my Grandma Sue would always bake us fresh loaves of her famous banana bread whenever we came to visit. Her banana bread is hands - down the best there is. So good in fact, that John Mark would take a loaf for himself and hide it strategically in the house to ensure that he got his fill during our visit. Yep, he is the oldest.
So, the boys and I attempted a somewhat healthier version of banana bread this morning. I don’t usually make up recipes for baked things because I have found several blogs that do a much better job then I do… but the overly brown bananas on my counter where taunting me to put them to good use and make my own recipe… and we had a whole lot of fun in the process!
ENJOY!
Elizabeth
BANANA BREAD: dairy + gluten free
(the three little monkeys)
INGREDIENTS:
- 3 overly ripe bananas
- 3 T ground flax seed + 1/4 C warm water
- 1/4 C melted coconut oil
- 1 T vanilla
- ¼ C sugar
- ½ C brown sugar
- ¼ C unsweetened applesauce
- 1 ½ C oat flour (It is sold in bulk at Whole Food and New Seasons or Bob’s Red Mill sells it by the package at most grocery stores. Or, you can grind old-fashioned oats in blender or food processor to make your own. If you use whole wheat flour instead, you may not need to bake it quite as long.)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 tsp cinnamon
TOPPINGS: optional but highly recommended!
- cinnamon sugar + coconut flakes
Preheat oven to 350F.
In a small bowl, combine ground flax seed and warm water. Stir and set aside to thicken for a few minutes
In a mixing bowl, peal the bananas and mash well with a fork.
Add coconut oil, vanilla, sugar, brown sugar, applesauce, and flax seed mixture to the mashed bananas and stir.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and stir well.
Add flour mixture to banana mixture and stir until combined.
Go ahead and sneak a taste of the batter like Duke. I won’t tell.
Pour batter into a greased loaf pan.
Sprinkle cinnamon sugar and coconut flakes on top. Feel free to be generous with the cinnamon sugar…. It’s for the kids, right?
Bake for about 45 minutes.
Duke and Moses got a little bored while it was baking and thought this would be a good idea...
Enjoy fresh out of the oven with a hot cup of tea in front of the fire…
Or, like this…
Off to have another fort making competition… see you next week!