I’ve made a variety of banana bread over the years. I’m always dabbling with ingredients, textures, and flavors to improve a recipe or to punch it up. Well this version does both, I think. I wanted to try two things – alternative flours and sugar alternatives.
For flour, I went with a combination of almond and chickpea. Chickpea flour is super high in fiber and can be used to replace up to 25% of the flour in a recipe. Almond flour is low carb and gluten free. I used a ratio of 3:1 (almond:chickpea flour). I have dabbled with a 50-50% split, which has worked out fine as well.
For sugar alternatives, I went with date paste. My mom, a Whole 30 guru, suggested it and she’s a genius. All you need to do is soak the dates and water (30 minutes minimum), remove the dates from the water, add dates to blender or food pro, add a splash of fresh water, and blend into a paste. I made mine in my Ninja Single Serve blender; see the photo below. There’s a nice tutorial here on The Healthy Foodie’s page. I’ve also made this recipe with 1/4 of brown sugar instead of date paste and that worked well too.
Domestocrat’s Chocolate Chip Banana Bread v2.0 (yields 8 1-inch slices)
3 bananas
3 eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla
Date paste (6 dates + 1/4 cup water) – OR 1/4 cup brown sugar
1.5 cup almond flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill Super Fine Almond Flour)
1/2 cup chickpea flour (I used King Arthur Flour Chickpea Flour but it looks like they no longer make it. Check out Bob’s Red Mill instead!)
1.5 tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup finishing sugar (I use King Arthur Flour Sparkling Sugar)
Making this recipe is super easy. In a stand mixer or big bowl:
1) Mix all of the wet ingredients together (bananas, eggs, vanilla, date paste)
2) Add in all of the dry ingredients and mix until smooth (flours, cinnamon, baking soda, salt).
3) Toss in the chocolate chips and give the batter one final mix.
4) Liberally spray a loaf pan and pour in the batter. Top with a few spoonfuls of finishing sugar, aka sparkling sugar.
5) Bake on 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes, rotating once halfway through to ensure even baking. Use a toothpick to make sure the center is baked through. Cool the bread completely, slice, and enjoy!
(Of note, when I mentioned specific products here please know that I am in no way paid, given free samples, or told to say anything you just read. I have posted about this product because I went out, purchased this item myself, and want to share my findings in a candid and informative way.)
