This recipe for healthy oat flour banana bread is famous among my family and friends. It is inspired by a recipe on www.plantoeat.com blog. It is a little bit different than your typical sweet and gooey banana bread. Instead, it is gluten-free and made with simple healthy ingredients like coconut oil, and unprocessed sugar like maple syrup or honey. It’s texture is still moist, filling, and it is just sweet enough. If you want an extra treat try it with the passionfruit cream cheese frosting.
Why unrefined sugars or sweeteners are best
Refined sugar either comes from sugar cane or sugar beets. If the package does not say sugar cane, than you can bet the sugar comes from genetically modified sugar beets. In the refining process they strip raw sugar of any remaining nutrients. They also use chemical processes to ensure uniform texture, shape and color, which may result in levels of chemical residue of Phosphoric Acid, Sulfur Dioxide, and Formic Acid in the sugar. In contrast, unrefined sugars are in a more pure form. Usually unrefined sugar comes from sugar cane juice which is rich in minerals like Phosphorus, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, and Potassium. In addition, when sugar is refined and processed there are many harmful ingredients that are added to the sugar as a result.
Unrefined natural sweeteners are even better for you than unrefined cane sugar. These have even more nutrients and may require less processing. I come from the Northeast of the US where Maple trees are abundant and the maple syrup industry thrives. Therefore, maple syrup is my sweetener of choice. However, maple syrup isn’t always affordable and it is definitely not the local choice. That being said many of my recipes use honey interchangeably with maple syrup. This lends a slightly different, but just as pleasing taste. Other options include: coconut sugar, date sugar, brown rice syrup, molasses, and sucanat.
Recipe for healthy oat flour banana bread:
Wet ingredients:
- 6-8 small-medium bananas
- ½ cup coconut oil (liquid)
- 2 eggs (room temperature)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup (honey, or sugar is ok)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Dry ingredients:
- 3 ½ cups oats (I use regular, old fashioned, but quick oats work fine as well). Blend these in a high speed blender on pulse. Until they are fine but still a little crumbly. Use 3 cups of this in the final recipe.
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 and ½ teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons baking powder (aluminum free is best for your health)
Ingredients for icing:
- 1-3 tablespoons powdered sugar (organic, non-gmo powdered cane sugar)
- pulp from 1-2 passion fruits (lilikoi)
- ½ cup or less cream cheese
Steps:
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degree F and coat 2 loaf pans with coconut oil*
- With a hand blender or stand-up mixer blend bananas until mostly smooth**
- Next, add the rest of wet ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined
- In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients
- Then, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix lightly until uniform
- Pour batter into pans and pop them into the oven for about 25-30 minutes until browning on top.
- Finally, cool a few minutes
- For the icing, blend together lilikoi (with or without seeds), ½ cup cream cheese and 1-3 tablespoons powdered sugar).
- Top with icing while still warm for a super yummy treat
*(or cake pans, brownie pans etc. work ok too)
**you can also mash the bananas but the flavor won’t be as well distributed
Resources:
- http://www.livestrong.com/article/67126-refined-sugars/
- http://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/2015/02/wellness-wednesday-a-guide-to-8-natural-unrefined-sweeteners/
- http://www.naturalorganiclifestyle.com/unrefined-raw-sugar.html
- https://www.plantoeat.com/blog/2012/01/gluten-free-dairy-free-sugar-free-oat-flour-banana-bread/
