Holy Monkey’s: Banana Bread

Lately we buy bananas and they don’t get eaten, then we have brown bananas. I throw them in the freezer and they collect until I have a good 10 in there.

I went searching on Pinterest for banana baking and this delicious picture popped up of a Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Banana Bread. When I clicked on the link it brought me to Hungry Healthy Happy Girl. It seems that Tara, at a lovely age of 21 is a beast in the kitchen! Everything she makes is gluten, wheat, dairy, egg and peanut free. I whipped up her recipe in a very short easy amount of time. (I did not use gluten free oats however.)

Usually I don’t like most of what I cook and Adam devours it all making me feel like a great cook/baker. This bread, is a whole nether story!

You can find the recipe here. (It is also listed below)

The first time I made it, I followed the recipe to a T, the second time I halved the chocolate chips and added walnuts and used Dark brown sugar. I promise it is the most delicious bread you will ever have!

First, I gather all my ingredients

Then, grind all your oats until they look like flour. I have no food processor and well, this is our hand mixer from South Korea. (If you look carefully, you can see the strange adapter on the wall.

Then, I mix all the wet ingredients and the dry ones separately. Combine everything, mix it up and bake! Tip: If you use silicone baking pans be sure to keep the pan ontop of a baking sheet so it is easier to remove it from the oven that way.

And this is the deliciousness that you get to eat…of course I had a slice right out of the oven.

What you need:

About 3 cups oats (make sure you use gluten-free oats)
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 tablespoon olive or coconut oil
1/3 cup brown sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup vegan chocolate chips
3 tablespoons oats

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 9×5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
Make oat flour: Place oatmeal into blender and blend for 1-2 minutes until oatmeal resembles flour. You may need to stop blender and stir oats a couple of times to ensure that all oats have been blended.
Measure out just 2 cups of the oat flour and place in a medium bowl. Whisk in baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
In a separate large bowl, beat mashed bananas, 1/3 cup brown sugar, vanilla extract, and oil for 1-2 minutes until the consistency is smooth and creamy. Slowly add in oat flour mixture and mix until just combined.
Gently fold in chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and sprinkle 3 tablespoons oatmeal and 1 tablespoon brown sugar on top. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cool 10-15 minutes, then remove from pan and place on wire rack to finish cooling. Cut into thick slices and ENJOY