Vegan Choc Chip Banana Bread
Name one person that doesn’t love a solid banana bread recipe. It’s the ultimate feel-good baking delight that even the most entry level bakers will struggle to mess up. And if you’re looking for a go-to banana bread to save to your growing recipe collection then I have just the one for you! Ali and I teamed up with Ombar who specialise in making the most delicious organic, raw, vegan chocolate in the UK to create the Ultimate Vegan Choc Chip Banana Bread. It’s easy, moist and delicious; you’re gonna love it!
INGREDIeNTS
3 overripe (blackened) bananas, peeled (and defrosted, if frozen)
80g brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
75ml coconut oil, melted, plus 1 tablespoon extra for greasing the tin
225g self-raising flour
2 teaspoons (heaped) baking powder
1 teaspoon (heaped) cinnamon powder
3 x 35g Ombar chocolate bars, broken into chocolate chip-sized chunks
1/4 -1/3 (not overripe!) banana, cut diagonally into thin (approx. 2mm) slices (the remainder can be used for snacking!) - optional decoration
METHOD
Preheat oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 6. Mash the bananas well in a large bowl. If using frozen bananas, either remove them from the freezer an hour ahead of time (beware overripe banana smell) or, as we did, give them 10-15 minutes after being removed from the freezer before peeling and mashing, then warm gently to bring to room temperature over a medium high heat on the hob.
Add the brown sugar, coconut oil (all but the 1 extra tablespoon) and vanilla essence to the bananas and mix well. The bananas should be largely broken down, but a few small lumps won’t do any harm.
Sift in the flour, baking powder and cinnamon and mix well to combine. Fold in the chocolate chips. The batter should be quite thick - somewhere between normal cake batter and cookie dough.
Grease a 1kg loaf tin with the reserved tablespoon of coconut oil (using a pastry brush if you melted it with the rest of the coconut oil), then pour the batter into the tin, using a spatula or wooden spoon to scrape in as much of the batter as possible. Arrange the thin banana slices down the length of the tin in the centre of the batter, overlapping the ends slightly, to stretch from one end of the tin to the other.
Place the tin in the centre of the pre-heated oven, and set your timer for a 35 minutes. Check the loaf after 20 minutes - if it’s browning too quickly, cover with foil. If it’s browning unevenly, rotate it to try and even it up. When the 35 minutes is up, insert a metal skewer or sharp knife into the centre of the cake - if it comes out clean, it’s ready. If not, return it to the oven for another 5 minutes or so.
When cooked, remove from the oven and allow it to fully cool before devouring ferociously.
QUICK TIPS:
Use old bananas, and when I say old I mean pull those black skin bananas out of the freezer - they’re moist and bursting with flavour!
Coconut oil goes hard quickly in cooler environments. If yours is hard whack it in the microwave for a few seconds to melt it before you use it, and if it starts to solidify when you combine it with cooler ingredients just place the bowl over some boiling water to keep it warm.
This recipe is just a base; you can add nuts, fruit, MORE CHOCOLATE (AMEN!) or anything else you’d like too.