Healthy banana bread. Soft and moist with subtle sweetness.

Packed with protein and fibre, reduces hangry moments and feeds healthy gut microbes at the same time. It’s gluten free, dairy free and nut free, so yes, works for school lunchboxes too. You’re going to love this.

I’ve been experimenting and adapting banana bread recipes for years since my young children started reacting to gluten and dairy. I knew there was a healthy alternative to this white flour, highly sugared cafe favourite, so I put on my adaptation apron and got cooking.

I wanted a nutritious bread that would be fulling for kids, and not send them back 1 hour later telling me they are starving, again! I wanted something that even our wheat and dairy eating friends would love. The end result is a delicious, soft, wholesome bread, that is loved by all.

This recipe uses coconut flour which adds a lovely coconut flavour and delicate softness to the bread. Coconut flour expands 3-4 times, so you get 3-4 times the flour from one bag, remember that when you’re comparing the price!

Coconut and linseeds are healthy fats with lots of super good properties including fibre. Fibre is food for our healthy gut microbes. We want these guys thriving in our gut for healthy digestion and producing good brain chemicals. Healthy gut microbes only stay and thrive in our gut if we feed them what they want to eat.

Lets bake …

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 35-40 mins

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas

4 medium eggs (700g approx)

1/2 C oil, coconut extra virgin (or rice bran)

4T honey (or rice malt syrup)

1t vanilla extract

2T ground linseeds (aka flaxseeds)

1/2 C coconut flour

2t cinnamon

1/2t baking soda

1/4t ground salt

Optional: 1/4C chopped walnuts for decoration (but not for school lunchboxes)

Method:

Preheat oven to 175C.

Beat the eggs until frothy in a large bowl.

Mash bananas and add to eggs. Add oil, vanilla and linseeds.

Place a sieve over the bowl. Measure the coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt into the sieve. Sieve altogether into the bowl.

Mix all ingredients together. Please note the texture may appear quite runny while the coconut flour is expanding. It will slightly thicken as the flour expands within 2 mins.

Line a 24cm loaf tin and pour in the mixture. If you want to add a crunchy texture, sprinkle walnuts on the top of the mixture now.

Bake for 35-40mins. The duration of cooking depends on the size of the eggs, bananas, and if you used a bit more or a bit less coconut flour, remember it expands 3-4 times. Start checking your bread from 30mins in the oven. It’s cooked when the skewer comes out clean.

Let the hot bread sit for 15mins. Steamy, warm healthy banana bread, super good. Enjoy!