Banana Carob Bread

You guys! I’m SO excited to share this recipe with you: a super MOIST and deeply RICH banana bread that’s everything but typical. 

I wanted to try out a banana “chocolate” bread. For the sake of fewer pimples, I found an alternative: carob AND cacao butter 🙌🏽. The two make a decadent chocolaty-like duo.

Carob tastes similar to chocolate, kinda like a cousin to it, but is still uniquely different. It’s less bitter than chocolate, has a roasted, naturally sweet flavor, tons of nutrients, and is caffeine-free. Cacao butter (also known as food-grade cocoa butter) is nutrient-rich ingredient used to make chocolate, and is also caffeine-free!

And the secret ingredient that makes this bread super moist? Avocados! They’ve done it again 🙂 Use a nice and ripe avocado in this recipe, so it’s easy to mash. And use spotted bananas, for sure (not turning black and fermented though, lol). 

Spotted bananas are especially sweet on their own, so you don’t need much of a sweetener for this bread. This recipe only calls for ½ cup of coconut sugar (use more or less depending on your preference). Coconut sugar unlike the regular white sugar we know, is not refined or chemically altered, contains no artificial ingredients, or synthetic substances, and is derived from the coconut palm. I don’t use it often, but it works nicely in this recipe. In theory, you could also use date sugar (I haven’t tried it in this recipe, however). I also prefer using unsweetened carob chips, because carob is naturally sweet. 

BTW: If you like carob or chocolatey things, then you’ll also enjoy these decadent sweet potato carob truffles 🙂 

Banana Carob Bread

Servings: 1 Loaf of Banana Carob Bread

Ready In: 1 hour and 15 minutes

Good For: Snack, Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: Gluten-Free, Vegan

Ingredients:

• 3 bananas
• 1/2 avocado
• 1 cup GF oat flour
• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup carob powder
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 2 tbs melted coconut oil
• 2 tbs melted cacao butter
• 1 chia egg 
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• ½ cup of carob chips
• 1/2 tsp of orange zest
• 1/2 tsp of salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9×5 inch baking pan and line with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, combine your dry ingredients: oat flour, almond flour, carob powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt (minus coconut sugar). Whisk together. 
3. In a large bowl, add bananas and avocado. Mash really well, so there aren’t any chunks. 
4. In a small bowl, make your chia egg by adding 1 TB of chia seeds to 3 TBS of water. Whisk and set aside. 
5. To your large bowl with mashed bananas and avocado, add your coconut sugar, melted coconut oil, melted cacao butter, chia egg, vanilla, and orange zest and mix well (save the carob chips for later).
6. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the large bowl of wet ingredients. Combine well, but don’t overmix. 
7. Next fold in ¼ of your carob chips (we’ll use the remainder for the top of the bread).
8. Pour your batter into the lined loaf pan and sprinkle the rest of the carob chips on top of the bread. 
9. Bake for 60 minutes (or slightly longer depending on your oven – just don’t let it burn) until a toothpick into the loaf comes out clean. 
10. Let it cool down before slicing. Sprinkle extra carob chips on top if you’d like.

NOTES:

-Easily make oat flour by blending gluten-free oats in a high-speed blender or food processor until you reach a flour-like consistency.

-To melt a small piece of cacao butter, place it in a bowl over a double broiler for a few minutes. You can also melt in a microwave. Use quickly because it will re-harden. You can order cacao butter online, or get it from a natural foods store. Though this bread tastes delicious with cacao butter as it highlights the cocoa taste, it also tastes great without, but may not taste as “chocolatey”. If omitting, add an extra tablespoon of coconut oil (so 3 TBS  of coconut oil in total).

Did you make this recipe? Tag @cmhsocial on Instagram and hashtag it #cmhsocial

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