This all natural banana pancake bread is warm banana bread and comforting pancakes all rolled into one.

And just so happens to be gluten free, vegan, and no one will ever know there’s not an ounce of butter or a gram of refined sugar.

The pancake catastrophe

My dad used to carefully craft his pancakes.

He would mix the batter, measuring out the flour in exact proportion, stir in the remaining ingredients and gently fold in fat, sweet, juicy blueberries. They grew BIG up in the Northeast.

One particular camping trip in Stow Vermont at the Mountain View Campground he had created a particularly fine batch.

Everyone was sitting at the wood camp table, adults on one side, kids on the other, napkins tucked into their shirt collars, forks and knives in hand banging them on the table. “We WANT pancakes. We WANT pancakes!”, we shouted. Ok maybe that’s an exaggeration, but we were hungry.

In the center of the table sat real Vermont maple syrup – our mouths salivating like Pavlov’s dogs at the thought of fluffy pancakes dripping with rich syrup.

He had finally finished his masterpieces – perfectly round and equally sized, fluffy blueberry pancakes. As he carefully walked to the table, he placed them in the center of the table and walked around to the side next to my mother.

BAM! The table fell backwards, catapulting the perfect, drool worthy pancakes directly into the faces of my parents, all over their clothes and onto the ground as they lay there, with their new purple-y delicious ensembles.

(To clarify for my mom’s sake, I’m not saying my parents were big people – it was just a weight distribution thing.)

To this day I don’t remember if we were laughing or if we all turned to my dad with wide eyes waiting to see what his reaction would be. All I know is that we’ve gotten lots of mileage out of that story as we repeated it over the years. Every time I think of pancakes, I think of the story of the flying blueberry pancakes.

It’s all warm, moist and banana-y on the inside and crackly on the outside. We enjoyed a slice at breakfast and another at dessert. I did notice that we had a few people stopping by more than usual and the bread disappeared rather quickly.

When banana pancake bread is involved, you suddenly have more friends. Strange how that happens.

(p.s. As a variation, it would be perfect with blueberries in the summer or with some toasted walnuts or pecans.)

Banana Pancake Bread

Inspired by Minimalist Baker

Serves 8

Vegan, Gluten Free

Ingredients

3 medium ripe bananas (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 tbsp chia & 3 Tbsp water

3 Tbsp coconut oil, melted

1/2 cup organic coconut palm sugar

2 Tbsp coconut nectar or maple syrup

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 cup almond or non dairy milk

1 1/4 cup almond meal

1 1/4 cup gluten free pancake mix

1 1/4 cup gluten free oats

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 350 and grease a loaf pan with coconut oil.

2.Mash banana in a large bowl. Add all ingredients through almond milk and whisk vigorously to combine. Last add almond meal, gluten free flour blend and oats and stir.

3.Bake for 60 minutes or until firm and golden on top.

4.Let cool completely, for at least 15 minutes, so that the bread doesn’t crumble.

Store leftovers on the counter for a few days or wrap tightly and store in the freezer.

Nutrition Facts

8 Servings

Amount Per Serving

Calories 341.9

Total Fat 14.5 g

Saturated Fat 2.3 g

Polyunsaturated Fat 1.0 g

Monounsaturated Fat 0.4 g

Cholesterol 0.0 mg

Sodium 367.9 mg

Potassium 199.3 mg

Total Carbohydrate 53.3 g

Dietary Fiber 5.6 g

Sugars 14.1 g

Protein 7.9 g

Vitamin A 1.6 %

Vitamin B-12 0.0 %

Vitamin B-6 12.2 %

Vitamin C 6.5 %

Vitamin D 2.3 %

Vitamin E 27.2 %

Calcium 15.5 % (from the almond meal and milk!)

Copper 2.4 %

Folate 2.0 %

Iron 10.3 %

Magnesium 18.6 %

Manganese 5.1 %

Niacin 1.1 %

Pantothenic Acid 1.1 %

Phosphorus 2.9 %

Riboflavin 3.4 %

Selenium 0.7 %

Thiamin 4.4 %

Zinc 0.5 %

*Percent Daily Values for Pancake Banana Bread are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Bonus Banana Bread Recipe

My husband Chris is a big banana bread fan. I had quite a few left over really ripe bananas that needed to be used and I came across this recipe for the use of FIVE over ripe bananas on Recipe Girl. Perfect! I used her recipe but subbed chia eggs for the whole eggs as that’s all I had and I added vanilla, cinnamon and walnuts. Hubby has been happily eating away so it must be good. Thanks Recipe Girl!

In Your Face Banana Bread



Vegan, Gluten Free Altered from Recipe Girl

Serves 8Vegan, Gluten Free



Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour (for gluten free option use gluten free flour)

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

½ cup coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla

¾ cup (packed) brown sugar

2 chia eggs**

5 mashed over ripe bananas (2 1/3 cups)

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F and spray a loaf pan with cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, soda, cinnamon and salt; set aside.

3. In a bowl or mixer cream together coconut oil, vanilla and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended.

4. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture and add nuts; stir just to moisten.

5. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake 60- 65 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean.

6. Allow bread to cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

**Chia or flax egg:

1 tablespoon CHIA MEAL or FLAX MEAL (seeds that have been ground)

3 tablespoons WATER

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