Easy Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Who doesn’t love bananas? Well, spoiler alert…I really don’t! But, I do happen to love banana bread so when I was at my Dad’s house this past weekend and saw the poor little bunch of spotty, sad, bananas on his counter I knew just what to do. Plus, the addition of peanut butter in this recipe is a total game changer!

To be fair, I am a far better cook than I am a baker and even before a took a step back from eggs and dairy, baking was never my favorite thing to do…but this Peanut Butter Banana Bread, made with dairy free butter, and JustEgg is so quick and easy, even I can master it…so I know that you can too! Not worried about it being vegan? No problem…it works just as well with the traditional ingredients you have in your fridge!

What you are going to need to buy:

4 medium bananas, very ripe

1/3 cup dairy-free butter, melted

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 pinch Salt

1 cup Brown Sugar

1/4 cup of JustEgg, egg replacer

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1/2 cup of creamy Peanut Butter

1.5 cups AP Flour

What you are going to need to do:

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

To begin, in a large bowl, mash 3 of the bananas with a fork or potato masher until a paste forms.
To your bananas, add the melted butter and stir until well combined.
Add the brown sugar, Just Egg, Vanilla, Peanut Butter and mix until smooth.
Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and slowly fold into the wet ingredients until well incorporated. Do not over mix.
In a standard loaf pan that has been sprayed with non-stick baking spray, scoop the batter into the pan and using a rubber scrapper, make sure that the batter is level, smooth, and fills all corners.

Dust the top with a sprinkling of brown sugar, for a nice crust, when baked.

Cut the remaining banana into slices and arrange on top of the batter.

Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the loaf.

Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

Fudgy Espresso and Sweet Cherry Vegan Brownies

Who doesn’t love coffee and brownies? This vegan brownie recipe is so rich and delicious no one will ever know that they are dairy free…or that secretly they are chocked full of fiber, potassium, and Vitamin A thanks to that sneaky sweet potato that is hiding inside. Brownies as vitamin supplements…why isn’t that a thing yet?

Now, a note about planning: Don’t get me wrong, you can absolutely eat these brownies straight from the oven and no one is going to stop you, but, fair warning, they will be a bit crumbly and will try to fall apart. Best to make this dessert a day ahead! Maybe it’s some kind of baking magic, the vegan gods, the ocean tides…who knows why, but these extra chocolatey brownies really benefit from sitting overnight to really develop that “fudgy” texture.

What you are going to need to buy:

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of All Purpose Flour

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of Cocoa Powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon of instant espresso or instant coffee crystals

1 tablespoon of baking powder

1/2 cup of Creamy Peanut Butter

2/3 cup of White Sugar

1/3 cup of Maple Syrup - (The good stuff…not pancake syrup)

1/4 cup of Olive Oil

1 medium Sweet Potato, cooked

1 tablespoon Vanilla

1 cup of Dried Cherries - (or try cranberries or blueberries)

What you are going to need to do:

Preheat over to 325 degrees.

To begin, you need to cook your sweet potato. You can bake it…but the microwave works just as well for this and only takes about 3 minutes. - Once potato is cooked and cool enough to handle, cut in half and scoop out the contents into a mixing bowl.

To the sweet potato add you sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, and olive oil and wish until smooth and all of the lumps of sweet potato have dissolved and become well incorporated.

Sift dry ingredients: Flour, Cocoa, Espresso or Coffee, Salt, and Baking Powder.

Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until dough just starts to come together. Add the Peanut Butter to the batter and mix until just incorporated.

At this point if the batter seems too dry you may add an additional teaspoon of olive oil. These are dense, fudge brownies and this is thick batter. it won’t “pour” like traditional brownie batter made with eggs and dairy.

Using a nonstick cooking spray, or vegan butter, coat the bottom of a 9 x 9 baking dish and then using a silicone spatula press the dough into the baking dish, making sure to evenly spread into corners.

Sprinkle your dried cherries onto the top of the batter and using the same silicone spatula lightly press into the top of the brownies to make sure they really sink in and sick.

Bake on the center rack of your oven for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool completely before serving (several hours, if not over night)

Makes 9-12 brownies depending on how big you cut them…Makes one brownie if a hurricane is on the way and you’re alone in your apartment for several days with the dog! (Just sayin’ - Don’t judge!)

Enjoy!

Vegan Walnut Banana Bread

Vegan baked goods are actually much easier and tastier than you might imagine and this Vegan Walnut Banana Bread is a perfect example. Moist, with plenty of lift, and a crunchy brown sugar crust it’s sure to become a family favorite.

Homemade breads are the kind of comfort foods that I can never resist! One of the best things about Vegan Banana bread is that you don’t need to stress out over trying to figure out an egg substitute because the bananas do that heavy lifting for you! This delicious recipe is the perfect way to use up your over-ripe fruit and can be totally customized with whatever mix-ins that you love! As with a lot of vegan baking, the trick to this banana bread is cooling time. Make sure to let this loaf cool completely before slicing or it will be crumbly and want to fall apart. Even letting it sit overnight, covered, isn’t a bad idea.

What you are going to need to buy:

3 Over-Ripe Bananas (The more brown and spotty, the better: I have, in a pinch used two over-ripe bananas mixed with one regular one and the recipe has worked out just fine.)

1/3 cup of White Sugar

1/3 cup of Brown Sugar (+ 1/4 cup to sprinkle on the top before baking)

1/3 cup of Vegetable Oil

1 tablespoon of Vanilla Extract

2 cups of All Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon of Salt

1 teaspoon of Baking Powder

1 teaspoon of Cinnamon

1 teaspoon of Nutmeg

1/2 cup of Walnuts, chopped

What you are going to need to do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To begin, mash your overripe bananas together in a mixing bowl until smooth.

To your banana puree add your oil, sugar, and vanilla and mix until well incorporated.

In another bowl sift together dry ingredients (minus the walnuts) and then add slowly to the banana/sugar/oil mixture.

Do not overwork the mixture. Gently fold in flour until just incorporated. Batter will be thick.

Fold in walnuts (or whatever other mix-ins you prefer. (Chocolate chips, cranberries, etc…)

Spoon batter into a loaf dish that you have oiled and floured

Using the back of the spoon smooth batter into pan making sure mixture is worked into all corners.

Sprinkle 1/4 cup of brown sugar onto the top on the batter for a crunchy top crust (Don’t sip this step…is it a lot of sugar…yes! Is it the best part? Also, yes!

Bake on the center rack of your oven for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool completely before serving (several hours, if not over night)

Enjoy!