Hello lovlies :-)
I haven't posted about baking in a while, since, quite frankly, I haven't done much of it lately. I baked some cookies for Christmas, but in all honesty, I haven't felt compelled to bake. Odd, amiright?! I feel like I dont know me anymore.
Well, last night it snowed, meaning my plans to meet up with friends for happy hour got cancelled, so I thought to myself, "Self. I think you should maybe use some of the entire banana tree's worth of frozen bananas you have in the freezer." Now that I think about that, it's kinda sad that I ended up substituting Captain Morgan for baking banana bread. There is something very, very wrong with this. Pardon me while I go fix myself a drink....
Ok. I'm back.
I've actually been thinking about banana bread ever since I saw a gluten-free recipe posted at King Arthur Flour's website.
I love KAF. So much, I took a class there this summer. I love them even more now. The baker who developed the recipe I used last night was one of the instructors I had for the class I took.
The baking started off with these ---
Fun fact: flax meal can be used as an egg replacer. Mix with water, let it come to a paste, and viola! Egg replacer! Full instructions on how to do this are on the back of the flaxmeal box I got from KAF, and I'm sure they're also on the interwebs somewhere, too.
Ok. So. Flax meal plus gluten-free all-purpose flour and a bunch of other ingredients, most importantly those frozen bananas that have been hoarding space on my freezer door (and i still have i don't know how many more....ugh....), becomes the most DE.LI.CIOUS batter I've tasted in years.
No. I'm serious. Do you know how godawful most gluten-free batters taste??? It's nothing short of a miracle that what ends up coming out of the oven is in any way palatable.
Moving on.
Gah. Seriously. This batter is insanely delicious. I was licking the bowl. Embarrasingly enough...that's not a joke....
Ahem.
For all you gluten-free bakers out there, the pan I used for this bread is not your regular run-of-the-mill 9x5 in loaf pan. If you've made gluten-free quick breads before, you know they don't behave like those gluten-filled ones. This pan was a Christmas gift, and is made by my favorite people, KAF, and is slightly shorter in length which allows the bread to rise higher and keep its form.
Mkay. So, that bad boy went into the oven for about 55 min...and came out looking like this --
Holy hell. Might be the most moist gluten-free banana bread I've ever made. Ever. See those white specks? Unsweetened coconut, my friends. Unsweetened coconut.
Now, have you ever had this?
As many people can attest, I loathe hazelnut. The thought of it kinda makes me wanna vom. Hazelnut coffee?! Gag me with a fork. Yet, for some reason, I was compelled to taste nutella one day (i blame the packaging - it looks so inviting, and it says there's cocoa in it...), and I would swear to you there's a secret ingredient not listed on the nutrition panel, that just makes it so friggin addictive you can't.stop.eating. I contend it's either crack cocaine or black tar heroin.
Anyone else agree? No? No one?? (sigh....)
Moving on, then....
I took the crack-filled hazelnut-cocoa spread....I mean.....nutella....and spread it over a particularly thick piece of bread, so thick I really did need that fork.....
....and inhaled it. So.damn.good.
Wipe off the drool from your keyboard. It really is THAT good....but let's not make a mess at our computers.
Want the recipe?! Of course you do!!! This is the link for the recipe over at KAF's website. I substituted coconut oil for the vegetable oil, and used dark brown sugar, but other than that, I made no alterations.
Friggin amazeballs. Thank you, Amy!! This is DEFINITELY going to be the only gluten-free banana bread I make from now on!!!!
Alright bakers...what will you be baking this weekend???
