With Overripe Bananas You Get Banana Bread

In my house the last 2 or 3 bananas get tucked away. When they are dark brown and squishy they get smushed into banana bread. Either a loaf of gluten free banana bread or a loaf of gluten filled banana bread. Today’s bananas will pair nicely with walnuts and chocolate chips and will end up gluten free. I am using a recipe taken from a cookbook called Gluten-Free Baking by Rebecca Reilly. This recipe is simple, basic and quick and has always turned out well. The recipe does not call for chocolate chips, I call for chocolate chips. The recipe follows verbatim. At the end I will tell you how I changed it up slightly.

Eleanor’s Banana Bread
Makes 1 (9 x 5 inch) loaf

2 cups Basic Gluten-Free Mix (recipe for this follows)
1 Teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
½ cup lightly toasted walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan and dust with rice flour and line with parchment paper.

Mix together the gluten-free mix, baking soda, xanthan gum and salt.

Cream the butter until white. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the mashed bananas. Add the dry ingredients and stir until blended. Fold in the nuts & chocolate chips. Spoon the batter into the pan. Bake for 1 hour or until done.

Basic Gluten-Free Mix: Mix 2 cups brown rice flour or chickpea flour, 2/3 cup potato starch and 1/3 cup tapioca flour. Or mix 1 cup chickpea or Garfava flour, 1 cup brown rice flour, 2/3 cup potato starch and 1/3 cup tapioca starch. Store in airtight container in the refrigerator.

I used Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Flour for this recipe. I substituted Smart Balance Buttery Spread for the unsalted butter and I cut the sugar down to ¾ of a cup. I added approximately ½ cup of chocolate chips (or to taste), just because chocolate must be used wherever possible and whenever you can get away with it. I use a Kitchen Aid stand mixer as it does a wonderful job for any mixing that requires more than a few minutes.

Now get baking!