I will never forget when I had my first baby in March of 1993. I live outside of Philadelphia, and that year there was a massive blizzard in the middle of March that paralyzed the entire northeastern region. You may have heard of it: The Blizzard of ’93. Of course, it was during this blizzard that the baby decided to make an entrance into the world! After a harrowing ambulance ride to the nearest hospital, the rest of the delivery went as planned, and I was blessed with a healthy 8 lb. 13 oz. baby boy, that I named Austin. I was initially going to name him Storm, but thankfully my family talked me out of that!
When I got home from the hospital, my mom came for a visit with my sisters to see baby Austin. She brought lunch, and she brought the most amazing banana nut bread that she had gotten from her church’s bake sale. Now, I had always been a huge fan of banana nut bread growing up, and my go-to recipe had always been the one in the Fannie Farmer Cookbook. Now don’t get me wrong, that recipe makes an incredibly good loaf of traditional banana nut bread. But this banana bread my mom brought took things to a different level. This banana nut bread didn’t just have bananas and nuts. It had chocolate chips. It had coconut. It was almost dessert-like. And from that moment on, I began to add chocolate chips and coconut to my banana bread.
Fast forward several years (ok, a lot of years because my son is now 27!), and my husband and I have both developed a gluten sensitivity. (I’ll write more about that in a different post). We are not able to eat the beloved banana nut bread anymore. This was a big deal because I used to make that bread twice a month. I knew I needed to come up with a gluten-free version of that banana nut bread. And here it is.
This Gluten-free Tropical Banana Nut Bread is moist. Delicious. Very Banana-ey. (Is that a word?). The trick is to use very, very ripe bananas because bananas get sweeter and more liquified as they ripen. Another trick is to use 4-5 bananas. This takes the banana flavor and moistness to an entirely different level. I use gluten-free flour in this recipe; specifically, Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten-free flour, which is available in most grocery stores, and I get the big bag from Wegman’s. This recipe also uses butter, but if you need it to be vegan or dairy-free, you could substitute a non-dairy butter spread. I hope your family likes this recipe as much as my family does!
Gluten-free Tropical Banana Nut Bread
Equipment
- Mixer (Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer)
- Whisk
- Mixing Bowls
- Standard Size Loaf Pan (8 ½ X 4 ½ X 2 ½), greased
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Rubber Scraper
- Oven heated to 350°
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups Gluten Free Flour I like Bob's Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Flour.
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- ¼ tsp Salt
Wet Ingredients
- ½ cup Unsalted Butter Softened
- ½ cup Granulated Cane Sugar I use organic cane sugar so it is not bleached
- 2 Large Eggs
- 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1-2 tbsp Almond Milk Or non-dairy milk of your choice
- 4-5 Very Ripe Bananas (4 large or 5 small)
- ⅓ cup Walnuts, ground or finely chopped I use my coffee grinder for this step
- ⅓ cup Shredded Coconut
- ½ cup Chocolate Chips
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350°. Gather all your ingredients. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to a small bowl and whisk well to combine. Set bowl aside.
- In a stand mixer or with hand mixer in a separate bowl, beat softened butter until creamy.
- Add sugar to bowl with butter and beat for 1-2 minutes until incorporated into the butter.
- Add eggs and beat until mixed well into the butter/sugar mixture.
- Add vanilla and almond milk and beat until incorporated.
- Add the VERY ripe bananas one at a time and beat until the bananas are broken into very small pieces.
- Add dry ingredients that were combined and set aside in the first step and mix well with mixer.
- By hand, mix in coconut, ground walnuts, and chocolate chips and mix until fully combined.
- Pour/scrape batter into a greased standard size loaf pan.
- Bake for 50 – 60 minutes in a 350° oven. Oven times may vary so start checking at 50 minutes. My bread is done at 55 minutes. The bread should be golden to light brown on top.
- Allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes on cooling rack and then turn out of pan to allow to cool 20 – 30 minutes more before cutting.
- This bread is excellent warm or toasted in a toaster oven with a pat of grass fed butter. Yum!
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