Gluten Free Vegan Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Faye and I are quite often asked for Gluten Free recipes.  I've been looking around for a good recipe for awhile now. I found this one recently, but thought it was a bit too plain so I improvised the ingredients a bit and gave it a try.  Ok, I love my dairy, flour and butter, but I can honestly say you will not miss a thing in this recipe. It is so darn good I couldn't stop eating it!  The bread is a bit more dense than a traditional banana bread recipe, but trust me it will not stop you from eating it!   It's a perfect snack and your kids would love it.  I think next time I will even leave out the chocolate chips to get more of the banana maple flavor.  I really hope you give this recipe a try, it is so good!!

Happy Cooking!

*** Special Note:  GLUTEN FREE: Please make sure you check the label of your oatmeal to make sure it's Gluten Free. I've learned that  most of them do have small particals of gluten due to cross contamination. If you do not need it to be Gluten Free, any store brand oatmeal will work for this recipe. Here's a helpful link to read more about Gluten Free Oatmeal options. http://celiacdisease.about.com/od/glutenfreegrains/f/Is-Oatmeal-Gluten-Free.htm

VEGAN: If you want to make this recipe Vegan, use a dark chocolate. A good quality chocolate will have pure ingredients and no additives or just use Carob chips. Here's a helpful link to read more about Vegan chocolate options. http://vegetarian.about.com/od/shoppingproducts/f/veganchocolate.htm

Gluten Free Vegan Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups Old Fashioned Oatmeal
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (3 bananas)
• ½ cup peanut butter
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup blanched almonds
• 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
• banana slices for garnish if desired

Prep work:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray and set aside.
3. Put oatmeal in a blender or food processor and pulse to a fine crumb. Put into mixing bowl and set aside

Directions:

1. Take the mixing bowl with the oatmeal crumbs and add all of the remaining ingredients except the  chocolate chips to the blender. Blend until combined.        
   
                                                                                                                                                                                              
2. The mixture will be smooth but thick.                                  
   
                                                                                                     
3. Fold in 3/4  cup of the chocolate chips.                                
   
                                                                                                      
4. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
5. Top with banana slices                                                                      
   
                                                                                           
6. Bake  for 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.      
   
        
7.  Cool on cooling rack
8. EnJoy!!!ENJOY!!!