Paleo Chocolate & Cinnamon Banana Bread

When life hands you overly ripe bananas, it’s time to make banana bread. Or in my case, buy as many bananas as you can carry and wait until they turn properly spotty so that you can bake to your hearts content. I cringe thinking back on all the bananas I used to throw out after they went too soft to eat. If only I knew what I was missing out on all those times! 

I’ve tried a fair few variations of banana bread recipes over the last few months, but my current favourite has to be my cinnamon chocolate bake. I feel like this is a happy medium between the dominating chocolate flavour that Mike fancies and the cinnamon topping that I prefer.

INGREDIENTS

For the bread:

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup (85 grams) honey or maple syrup 

2 mashed ripe bananas - the darker/spottier, the better

1/2 cup (55 grams) melted butter (or coconut oil/ghee)

1/2 cup (48 grams) almond flour

1/2 cup (56 grams) coconut flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

For the chocolate cinnamon:

1/4 cup dark chocolate chips or semisweet chocolate

1 tablespoon honey

2 tablespoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon coconut oil

METHOD

1. Preheat your oven to 350F/178C

2. Beat the eggs in a medium sized bowl.

3. Add the vanilla, the maple syrup, and the butter/oil to the eggs, mixing thoroughly.

4. Combine the mashed bananas to the rest of the wet ingredients.

5. Mix the dry ingredients together in a small bowl, sifting to remove any clumps.

6. Pour the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth. You can do this by hand, but I preferred using an electric mixer to achieve a smooth batter.

7. Grease your loaf pan, or line with parchment and scoop your batter into the pan. Set aside.

8. Place all of your chocolate cinnamon swirl into a small sauce pan on low heat until melted. Stir the entire time to keep the chocolate from from burning to the bottom. You can do this part in the microwave if you prefer - just set the time or 30 second intervals and stir in between until melted.

9. Pour half of your chocolate, cinnamon mixture over the banana batter and use a knife to swirl the mixture through the batter.

10. Place in the oven and bake for 40 minutes, or until a knife going into the center comes out clean.

11. After letting the bread cool for about 10 minutes, remelt your chocolate-cinnamon and drizzle it over the top of your loaf. 

This recipe suits experimenting with different add-ins. Try chopping up spare nuts, raisins, or better yet - more chocolate.