This month’s recipe redux theme, “first cooking recollections” allowed me an excuse to bake a loaf of this dark chocolate walnut banana bread. My grandmother was a great baker, which I think inspired my interest in learning to cook. For years, I don’t think she bought bread at the store. She was always baking another loaf of bread or rolls. In fact, I think the first time I ever cooked anything was helping her bake cookies. Whenever I am experimenting with a new baked good recipe in the kitchen for the blog, I think of her.
I may not have yet acquired her prowess for yeast breads, I love cooking up new quick breads. This vegan pumpkin gingerbread one has been on my mind with the start of fall tomorrow! Make sure you leave out a few extra bananas to ripen on the counter, you’ll want to make a loaf of this yummy dark chocolate walnut banana bread ASAP!
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PinDescription
This dark chocolate walnut banana bread is simple to whip up and healthy enough to snack on anytime of day or night.
Ingredients
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder (optional)
- 3 bananas, mashed (~1 1/2 cups of mashed banana)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted (Or other neutral oil)
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup almond milk
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate pieces
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Optional Garnish:
- 1/2 banana, sliced
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, baking soda, espresso powder, and salt. Mix to combine.
- In a small bowl, mash bananas well with a fork. Add the vanilla, oil, eggs, milk, and maple syrup. Stir well and then pour into the mixing bowl with the flour. Stir with a large wooden spoon just until combined.
- Stir in the walnuts and dark chocolate to spread evenly in mixture.
- Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray. Pour batter into pan. Garnish with sliced banana and walnuts.
- Bake for 55-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean.
- Transfer to a cooling rack and allow bread to sit in pan for at least 10 minutes. Transfer loaf out of the pan and directly on cooling rack. Allow to cool another 20 minutes before slicing.
Notes
Adapted from this healthy banana bread recipe from Cookie and Kate.
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Looks amazing! And I love this adapted Banana bread recipe – the ingredients in this combo are all things I have stocked and I love adding espresso to baked goodies such as this. I just made a loaf (well, two) of banana bread from two different types of recipes (one with Greek yogurt and the other more traditional with real whole butter), funny that my kids liked the Greek yogurt version better. And I bet they’ll love this one, too. 🙂