Gingerbread Banana Bread – Soft and moist gingerbread combines with sweet homemade banana bread for the ultimate holiday baked good.
Maple Syrup And Agave – Are They Better For You Than Sugar?
Pretty much on a weekly basis, readers ask me what I think of agave, maple syrup, and other alternatives to white sugar.
Are they healthier?
Are they good for you?
Should you replace white sugar with maple syrup?
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While these sweeteners might be a little less unhealthy than table sugar, that doesn’t mean they are good for you.
Sugar is still sugar, and it’s a good idea to cut back no matter what type of sugar you are using, whether it’s maple syrup, agave, honey, coconut sugar, brown sugar, or white table sugar.
I keep this in mind when developing recipes, and most or all of the recipes on my site that call for any type of sugar will have significantly less sugar than traditional versions of the same recipes.
There is, however, one exception: blackstrap molasses.
Blackstrap molasses is by far my favorite sweetener, not just for its gingerbread flavor but also because it offers an incredible number of health benefits packed into one tiny tablespoon, including copper, manganese, magnesium, potassium, and 20% of the RDA for both calcium and iron.
If you’re new to molasses, be sure to try my recipe for Vegan Pecan Pie.
Especially around Christmastime, I try to add molasses to as many recipes as I can.
And since I’ve already done regular gingerbread, with my 3 Secret Ingredient Gingerbread Recipe, making banana bread seemed like the logical next step.
If you like gingerbread and bananas, you will love this vegan gingerbread banana bread!
Adapted from my Healthy Banana Bread
Gingerbread Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups mashed banana
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup milk of choice OR oil
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup, agave, or honey
- 1/4 cup molasses – blackstrap or regular
- 1 1/2 tbsp vinegar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
- 3/4 tsp each: baking powder and salt
- 2 cups spelt, white, or bob’s gf flour (260g)
- optional pinch stevia or 3 tbsp sugar for more of a dessert bread
- optional 1/2 cup raisins or crushed walnuts
Instructions
- Grease a 9x5 loaf pan very well, going up the sides. (Or line the pan with parchment.) Preheat oven to 350 F. Whisk the first 6 ingredients together in a bowl, then set aside. In a large bowl, stir remaining ingredients together very well. Pour wet over dry, stir just until evenly mixed, and smooth into the loaf pan. Bake on the center rack for 33 minutes – then do not open the oven even to peek, but turn off the heat. Let sit in the closed oven for 10 additional minutes. Remove and let cool completely before going around the sides with a knife and inverting onto a plate or cutting from the pan. Store leftover slices in the fridge for 2-3 days or freeze for up to a month.View Nutrition Facts
Notes
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I used whole wheat flour and substituted the honey/agave step with unsweetened applesauce. I didn’t add raisins, nuts or Stevia/sugar and it was delicious with some good butter on it. Should be good toasted too!
Holy mcWow! I made the less-sweet version (and I was low on milk so I used yogurt and applesauce instead) and it is just divine! I love that it’s not too sweet. It smells divine. It’s EXCELLENT. SO GOOD. Yum!
It turned out gooey! I made this exactly according to the recipe. I used flax milk (instead of oil) and spelt flour. I followed the 33 minute bake time plus 10 additional minutes after turning the oven off. It came out looking perfect. I made it late at night. Let it cool an hour before sticking it in the fridge. In the morning when I pulled it out to eat I realized it was still gooey and raw in the middle! The sides had cooked well so I was able to cut it in such a way that I got about 3/4 of the loaf into slices and then a gloopy pile of goo from the middle (which I still ate, it was delicious and nothing *had* to be cooked to be safe to eat). I was supposed to be bringing this to a potluck… thankfully I had other things to bring along with it. What did I do wrong? Maybe it just needed to cook longer?
Wow! Way too gingery. Maybe my ginger is spicier than most but I could’ve used half of the recipe (1tsp) and it may have still been too spicy.
Other than the strong ginger flavor it turned out ok, thanks to the raisins.
I didn’t add any maple syrup but 3tbs of coconut sugar with the dry ingredients.
Unfortunately this won’t be a go-to recipe for me. I would’ve preferred a regular banana bread recipe. I was open to trying this one as something new and different than the usual, but I guess I’m a plain Jane!
Can I use almond flour in place of other options?
We haven’t tried it so honestly can’t say. Feel free to experiment, or perhaps you might want to experiment with adding molasses and ginger to this recipe instead: https://lett-trim.today/almond-flour-banana-bread/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Great recipe..liked the texture and just the right amount of sweetness.
This is FANTASTIC!!!!
Wow, so yummy and a great alternative to regular banana bread if you want some variety.
I used the following ingredient choices because it’s what I had. I love how this recipe gives options to fit different dietary needs or ingredient availability:
Unsweetened almondmilk
Maple syrup
Unbleached all-purpose flour
No additional sweetener
I also added pecans and pieces of dried ginger and it really adds an extra burst of flavor and texture!
Thank you!!!!
Thank YOU for making it 🙂
I followed the recipe, but made muffins instead, the batter was quite thick. Not nearly as dark as the photo.. more of a caramel colour. Still turned out decent and I would definitely try again, but I want a stronger gingerbread flavour, so more molasses or spices, do you think?😊
Thank you so much for trying it! And yes, you can absolutely add more spices – more ginger will give a stronger flavor. You can also increase the molasses to 1/3 cup with no other changes needed.
I had to bake this for 60 minutes to get it cook all the way through in the middle. Not sure why I had such a wildly different experience. When it’s cooked through, it’s a great recipe, though!
Just took my loaf out of the oven and followed recipe instructions but the centre wasn’t cooked so covered with foil and put back for 6 more minutes. It smells wonderful and anxious to try it. I added crushed pecans. The mistake was probably mine because I used frozen bananas that had too much moisture. Now freezing bananas without peeling…will probably work better. Thanks for the wonderful recipes. Judy M
PS..just took from oven and is baked perfectly!
Changing my rating to 5 star! We just had a taste of this loaf and it is fantastic. I bake almost every day and my recipe collection is to the extreme…this one is going to the top of the list.
Thank you so much for making it!
Made this recipe today (3 dozen mini muffins)
Added chopped pecans. Delicious!!
Your mini muffin version sounds delicious!
Awesome. I used maple syrup. Was a bit short on banana and made up the difference with 1/3 cup applesauce. Baked as muffins. Got 14. Baked 16 minutes and turn off oven for additional 10 minutes. Added 2oz chopped walnuts. Used milk not oil. Filled muffin about 3/4 full. Batter is thick. Great texture. Did not add additional sugar.
This turned out so delicious! I was a little worried about the unique baking instructions because my oven can be weird sometimes, but it baked perfectly! It is moist, spicy, and a perfect use for my remaining molasses and overripe bananas. I love that it has no refined sugar, too.
Thank you so much!
Love this recipe! I ended up making 12 muffins instead. I omitted the cloves (didn’t have any), used the oil option, and the added 3 T (brown) sugar. I baked them in my toaster oven for about 18 minutes. They came out perfect; nice and fluffy. Even my hubby, who doesn’t like gingerbread, raved about them. Also, made our house smell like fall. It’s a definite keeper! 🙂
I made this as written and used milk instead of oil. Used spelt flour and did add walnuts and no additional sugars, however may cut maple syrup in half next time and the cloves. Would like to try to add chopped dates with the walnuts if I cut back the maple syrup. I was pleasantly surprised it turned out perfectly with the oven off for 10 minutes. Came out of the pan easy peasy. I used 2 medium size ceramic loaf pans. Will cut into slices and freeze for a nice treat. A nice powdered sugar icing would be nice if serving to guests or just a dusting of powdered sugar.
Katie thank you, never thought this would work like charm.