Despite the name of my blog, I’m trying to cut down the amount of sweets and grains that I eat (only marginal success so far). In the process, I’ve found myself looking into a lot of gluten-free recipes that will still appease my sweet tooth, but not totally wreck my health. Here’s one I found that was…well, interesting!
Gluten Free Banana Bread
I found the recipe at Primal-Palate.com, a paleo diet blog and web site that has a bunch of delicious-looking recipes. Every time I’m looking for dinner inspiration or an idea I tend to go there; it always reduces my craving for “bad” foods. So when I saw the recipe for paleo banana bread, I figured I could trust them. I had to start somewhere, right?
Bananas'n'Dates
To keep things sweet the recipe calls for dates and maple syrup (and, in my case, chocolate chips) – but there’s no actual sugar in it. And instead of your normal all-purpose flour, the recipe uses coconut flour and 6 eggs to create the bread’s structure. That’s a lot of eggs…and at first the batter was so odd-looking that I wasn’t sure if I’d done it right! But trusting in the recipe, I continued with only slight skepticism.
Banana Bread Batter
Looking back at it now, I suppose it doesn’t look that weird after all. I think it must have been the initial mixing that had me concerned…6 eggs can make any dough pretty liquidy.
So with my questionable batter in a pan, I tossed it into the oven and waited. Would it taste like normal banana bread? Would it smell like normal banana bread? Would it be passable? Would it be a horrible, horrible abomination that would turn my stomach and make me cry for spending so much money on coconut-related ingredients (who knew that coconut flour and oil would cost so much!)? O, the suspense!
Closeup!
Actually, it looked and smelled great! Just like normal banana bread it fluffed up slightly and was a bit browned on top. Naturally it smelled significantly more like coconut than any other banana bread I’ve ever had, but I like coconut so that’s no big deal for me.
In terms of taste…you know, it wasn’t bad. Different, that’s for sure, but not bad. The oddest thing about it was its texture. Because it had 6 eggs in it (did I mention that yet? 6 EGGS!) the bread almost had a souffle-like consistency. Instead of being a firm slice of bread, it was slightly more delicate and had a spongier and slightly wetter texture. Not bad, just different!
Would I make it again? Actually, I might! If I was having a bad sweet-tooth this is a great recipe choice. It was sweet and chocolatey, and I’ve always liked me some banana bread. If you’re into this paleo type of thing or are just curious, try it out!
Paleo Banana Bread
From Primal Palate. Find the whole recipe here!
Mary Gezo
Formerly of both n00bcakes and !Blog, the two magically become one on Spatialdrift; expect some lazy baking and serious nerditude. Also, I love semicolons.
It’s like sponge cake in banana bread form. Curious! If I could buy coconut flour here (and my guess is, I cannot), I’d try this out.
Hooray paleo! I want a piece! Also, for those in the metro ATL area, the DeKalb Farmer’s Market is a good place for affordable coconut oil – and maybe flour, though I’ve never looked.
Ooh I’ll have to try that! I just bought some coconut flour to make gluten-free cupcakes for someone but I had a lot left over. I have also been looking at going a little more paleo (don’t think i have the willpower to go all they way) Happy coincidence?
I’m surprised by how much it looks like normal banana bread! Interesting, very interesting indeed
@Emma – You should try it out! Curious, I think, is the best description for it. 😀
@Emily – More paleo recipes will be coming up! Good tip on the farmer’s market…I’ll have to try it out.
@nicole – I actually just recently tried some paleo cupcakes too – I really liked them! I’ll have a post up sometime soon to share. ^_^
@Stephanie – I was surprised too; for some reason I assumed it’d look significantly different. I was glad, though…it’s a good trick for the brain. 😀
It looks good to me! A couple years ago I made some chocolate banana cupcakes for my paleo bro-in-law. They used almond flour, but am not sure how they tasted. My sis likes Elana’s Pantry for gluten-free and paleo recipes!