Banana Bread ? Egg & Dairy Free! {Vegetarian}

Lately, I’ve been trying to transform foods that I enjoy into vegetarian dishes. I’ve had a few good results, and a few bad results. This is definitely one of the good ones! There’s a bunch of spices, some chopped walnuts, a hint of cocoa powder and some banana and dates! This is a bit more dense than some lighter loaves, so it’s best to bake it in a shallow and wide baking dish instead of a loaf pan. It’s almost like eating a banana flavoured brownie or cake… A co-worker described this as “if a brownie and a banana bread had a baby, this would be it!”  To make it more decadent, you could even drizzle some melted chocolate over the top of the loaf! The best part about this sweet treat? It’s not bad for you. There’s tons of fiber, grains and a serving of “good” fats! Even better, there’s NO butter or eggs. 

Banana Bread – Egg & Dairy Free! {Vegetarian} 

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups unbleached or whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled or quick oats
1/2 cup oat bran
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar {note: to make this vegan, you can substitute for vegan sugars and omit the honey mentioned below for garnish.}
3/4 tsp ground cardamom {green. Click here to find out why you should NOT mistake green cardamom for brown/black cardamom! Also, if you don’t like cardamom, you can omit it all together. I’m not the biggest fan of this spice, but did want to give it a try. I used very little, so there was only the slightest hint of it in the flavour.}
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 cup walnut halves, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup vegetable oil {or apple sauce}
1 tsp vinegar added to 1/4 cup vanilla almond milk
1/2 cup pitted dates, chopped
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp ground flaxseed + 3 tbsp warm water
2 bananas
Garnish prior to baking: finely chopped walnuts, liquid honey, cinnamon, vanilla sugar, brown sugar

Method: 

In a small bowl, mix the ground flaxseed with water. Stir, and allow to sit for at least 5 minutes until it becomes jelly like. This will replace the egg that you would have used for this.
In another bowl, soak the chopped dates with just enough water to cover them for at least 5 minutes.
In another bowl, combine the almond milk with the vinegar, and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
Pre heat the oven to 350 F, spray a glass baking dish with cooking spray, and set aside. {Note: make sure it’s a wide and shallow baking dish. Do not use a loaf pan, otherwise this loaf will be undercooked on the inside.}
In a large bowl, add all of the dry ingredients.
Slice the banana, and place it in a blender. Then drain the water from the dates, reserving about 2 tbsp of the water, and add them {with the reserved water} to the blender with the banana. Blend to a fine paste. If you do not have a blender, you can easily mash the banana and dates together in a bowl. Set aside.
Add the flaxseed + water mixture to the flour, and stir.
Add the almond milk + vinegar mixture to the flour, and stir.
Add the rest of the ingredients to the flour mixture, and stir until combined. This batter will be tough to stir, but you can do it! Use a strong arm!
Pour the batter into the prepared glass dish.
Lightly drizzle honey over the top of the batter.
Sprinkle all of the garnish ingredients evenly over the batter, and bake for 40-45 minutes. {Cake tester/knife inserted into the center will come out with a few crumbs on it, but shouldn’t be fully covered. Edges will be slightly darker. The bread will be softer than desired in the center when it’s fresh out of the oven, but resist the urge to bake for longer as this will dry it out. After the bread has set for an hour or so, the center will be chewy and tasty!}
Note: Do not eat this fresh out of the oven, as tempting as it may be. This tastes best after sitting overnight. Cool the loaf in the original baking dish, then once completely cooled cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit until the next morning. This will give it a very nice texture and flavour!



Filed under: breakfast, desserts, Recipes Tagged: Banana, banana bread, breakfast, cake, chocolate, cinnamon, culinary, dessert, fruit, healthy, muffin, recipe, spice, Sweet, vanilla, vegetarian