I can’t keep up with mercurial October…
The month started out amazingly, so I was caught completely off guard when it quickly turned dark and painful without warning. Yet suddenly it changed again. Albeit a colossal cliché, the idea that when one door closes another one opens has proven true for me twice now in three months, most recently this past Tuesday when a door opened I never would’ve expected. Sometimes things really do happen for a reason (I’m full of clichés today).
Going back to the low in between the two highs, this was my coping mechanism last week when I was hurt, angry, and—I’m sorry to say—probably not very fun to be around:
Hibernate like a bear… away from other people so they don’t have to deal with me!
And stuff my face with banana bread.
Not sure if bears really eat banana bread when they hibernate. Whatever. In any case, it was actually good timing, since the book manuscript deadline is coming up so there was no time to be social anyway. And hibernating afforded me ample opportunity to throw myself into work, simultaneously writing and experimenting with new recipes for future posts.
Above, chai banana bread with homemade Pumpkin Pie Cream Cheese.
It’s a cinnamon spicy take on traditional banana bread. (Fun random fact for grammar nerds: chai tea is a tautology, as both words mean the same thing… like pizza pie or fall down.)
Chai Banana Bread
- 2 cups spelt or all-purpose flour (or 2 cups Bob’s gf)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- only if using gf flour, add 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp each: ginger, cardamom, cloves, and nutmeg
- 3/4 tsp salt
- optional, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 Nunaturals stevia packet OR 1 tbsp sugar of choice
- 3 tbsp milk of choice
- 3 1/2 tbsp vegetable or melted coconut oil
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup (or another liquid sweetener of choice)
- 2 cups mashed bananas (measure the 2 cups after mashing)
- 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice or white or apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine dry ingredients and mix very well. In a separate mixing bowl, combine wet ingredients, then stir into dry until just evenly mixed. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake 35-40 minutes. (If the top is cooked but the inside is gooey, you can put tin foil over the top and continue to bake.) Let cool 10 minutes before slicing. Store leftover slices in the refrigerator or freezer after one day. Makes 10-12 slices. Top with coconut butter, pumpkin butter, or the pumpkin pie cream cheese recipe linked under the third photo of this post.
View Chai Banana Bread Nutrition Facts
Link of the Day:
……….Vegan Mac and Cheese
This was delicious!
I recently realized the degree of my gluten intolerance, and I’m a broke college kid. To make gluten-free flour I blended my quick oats in my coffee grinder and used 2 cups of that instead. It worked wonderfully! I didn’t use xanthan gum either (it’s pricy and makes little difference). It all worked so well! They rose, browned, and were light and moist. Perfect healthy snack and great for breakfast with coffee 🙂
Hey Katie,
Do you think buckwheat flour would work instead of Spelt?
Yum, I love banana bread and this recipe looks great!
Thanks for sharing!
This looks delicious!! I can’t wait to make it.
Just made this last night and it is..wait for it………….DELICIOUS!!!!!:) I made it with the pumpkin pie cream cheese and OH.MY.GOODNESS. Thank you so much for the terrific recipe, as always:)
Do you think this will work with white-whole-wheat flour?
I made this recipe yesterday when we’d stayed in bed too long and we were famished (so I forgot to take any pictures.) I didn’t have enough regular flour so I used 1/2 cup hazelnut and 3/4 cup whole wheat in addition to the rest white, and it was all delicious. Oh and I added chocolate chips because I love the combo. Great recipe!
I just made this, happened to have most of the ingredients in my kitchen. I used all natural cane syrup instead of the other sweeteners and it smells and tastes great! Thanks for the recipe Katie
Hi,
Just joined your page. Can I use oats flour ( ground oats) in place of regular flour or spelt flour in all the precipices?
Thanks
Check Katie’s Recipe FAQ page at the top of the blog 🙂
This turned out really good! I doubled the recipe and then made one loaf and about 22 muffins out of it. It tastes buttery and spicy but is still vegan! I didn’t have any masala spices other than cinnamom and nutmeg, so I used a couple old chai tea bags that were hanging in the back of my cupboard, ripped them open and added them to the cup of ground flax. I used 2 cups of whole wheat flour, 1 cup of porridge oats, and 1 cup of ground flax. They turned out really nice and I made them just in time for tea! Thanks for the recipe and take care 🙂