Healthy baking sounds like an oxymoron.
But, it is a real thing, and the thing that makes the Paleo lifestyle enjoyable for us. How many other diets embrace yummy baked goods?
It is all about using the right (read: healthy) ingredients.
A couple of weeks ago I shared a delicious Paleo Chocolate Chunk Cookie recipe, which we love, but they aren’t really an anytime snack. Don’t get me wrong, I can almost always find an excuse to eat chocolate, but I don’t exactly crave chocolate chunk cookies when I first work out in the morning or as a snack after a great workout. So, our other staple baked good treat is Paleo Banana Bread.
One of my earliest childhood memories is helping my mom bake homemade banana bread. We made it pretty often and my job was always to smash the bananas with a fork. I now have my son help with the banana mushing.
I used to like to kid myself into believing the bananas made banana bread healthy. But, the cup of sugar, almost two cups of flour, and sticks of margarine in my original recipe told a different story.
When I discovered Paleo Banana Bread, I tried several different recipes and did lots of experimentation to come up with a recipe that is even better than my original recipe.
My Paleo Banana Bread is a super dense and moist loaf that gets gobbled up within 1-2 days. The kids and I love to have a few slices with grass-fed butter for a quick breakfast. The hubby and I enjoy a slice as a light snack before bed.
I even passed off my new Paleo version at our family Thanksgiving dinner. Of course, after I saw everyone liked it, I shared all the healthy details.
This recipe is definitely on a regular rotation in our meal planning. I try to make a loaf a week. I hope you will enjoy it as much as my family does.
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tbsp cinnamon
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup agave syrup
- ½ cup water
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1 tsp pure vanilla
- 3 ripe bananas, mashed
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of a loaf pan with parchment paper.
- Mix together the almond flour, baking soda, and cinnamon.
- In a separate bowl, beat two eggs well. Mix in the water, agave syrup, almond extract, and pure vanilla.
- Mash the bananas with a fork or mixer. Stir the mashed bananas into the egg mixture.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix well.
- Pour into loaf pan.
- Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.
Looks super yummy Jackie!
~Sarah
Looks delicious! Can’t wait to try!
Now this seems gluten free so with help I could make it for my friend. I’ll have to google pure vanilla and agave syrup. Isn’t that a cactus. Trader joes or our health food store will have it. But you’re making me hungry thinking about it!! Our area is where most almonds are grown and they are in bloom. But the bees have a virus and this is a great problem plus we have our states worst drought. Zero water for ag zero for oil production. We need snow in the Sierra nevadas so we can have almonds!!! It’s amazing how almonds have reinvented themselves to be much more than a nut to munch on. Great for our counties industry and my friends family distributor business!!! And now flour. So neat for gluten problems in today’s altered wheat. Wow I’m on a soapbox–all over my craving for your banana bread!!!
yes, I’d just switch to honey instead of agave – it’s not good for you. If your friend is doing a whole30, she can’t have this anyway, but post whole30, vanilla and honey are ok.
That looks so yummy! I can’t wait to try it! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for posting these yummy and easy recipes. I made the Super Moist Paleo Bread. It was so moist ended up renaming it Super Souffle Paleo Bread. It was very “fluffy”. I may try it with 2-3 TBL of flour next time just to give it a bit more bread texture.
Mary, Instead try omitting one banana.
How many serving is one loaf?
I tried this recipe last week and it was so delicious! Super moist and so much flavour! I replaced the Agave Syrup with Rice Malt Syrup and added crushed Macadamias through out the loave – YUM! My new favourite, fail-proof recipe!