Happy Monday Morning to you! How was the weekend? What all went down? I had a really great day Saturday because my sister came to Phoenix for a one-day visit. It was soooo awesome to hang out with her and I posted some cute pictures of us, too.
Sunday I went to a Pumpkin Patch with my hubs and Skylar. She loved the horses, pumpkins, and the hay ride. It was 102 F so we only lasted about an hour, but here’s a few pics from our day.
I love this one because her eyes are the color of the beads on the turquoise necklace she’s holding
And if you missed My Highlights of the Week post where I recapped some raw vegan desserts from the past week, check that out, too!
Moving onto the Vegan Peanut Butter Banana Bread…
Recently, I had seen Janetha make a great banana bread based on Veggie Girl’s Recipe and it got my thinking about making a banana bread or cake of my own. I scoured the internet for various vegan, gluten, and soy free recipes that didn’t add any additional oil or margarine and really wasn’t finding what I wanted so finally decided just to create my own. Necessity is the mother of invention, right?
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Peanut Butter Banana Bread (Or Banana Cake)
3/4 c Oats (that I ground into oat flour)
1 c Almond Flour (or 1 c almonds that you grind)
3 Large Ripe Bananas (Optional: reserve approx 8 little slices for garnishing your loaf or cake)
1 Peeled & Cored Apple (Med to Large)
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup White Sugar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp Blackstrap Molasses
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
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Everything went into my Blendtec
And I tried to blend all those ingredients together.
But Technical Difficulties Stuck Big Time with the Blendtec. It wasn’t able to mix the ingredients. I tried self-mashing the already super soft bananas with a wooden spoon to try to give it some help. But I guess this wasn’t the right machine for this recipe.
I do like the openness of the Blendtec’s canister for easy food removal, but for this recipe, I was in need of a tamper stick like the Vitahas.
So I put the Blendtecto rest…
…And transferred the entire mixture into the Vita-Mix. You can imagine that this transfer and the extra cleanup really generated some choice words from my mouth. I’ll let you use your imagination.
Now in business with the Vita, I blended the whole thing in 20 seconds flat…
…And the mixture was looking and tasting (finger-licking) good!
But, then I added 1 c (1 generous cup!) of Peanut Butter. Which just upped the delish factor.
Blended Again
Poured the mixture into a bread pan (9 x 5) **see caveat below. Garnished with a few banana slices (that I reserved from the 3 large bananas as noted in the recipe). And baked at 325 F in a Convection Oven for 1 hour.
After an hour, I took it out and let the loaf cool.
During that hour, I wanted to reach into my oven and devour the whole thing because between the bananas, the vanilla extract, and the peanut butter, it smelled beyond amazing in my house!
Here’s an up close shot of the finished product. Can you see the ridic amount of moistness this bread has??
Or try this one on for size
For me, a dessert is not worth eating if it’s dry! I am really pleased with the moistness of this bread which really ended up being more like a banana cake. If you like really ooey-gooey desserts and are a fan of underbaked treats because you love the moistness, then look no further than this recipe! Plus, it’s not overwhelmingly peanut buttery which for some people, is a good thing. If you want it overwhelmingly PB’ish, then just add more PB!
One critique I will give myself is this…the loaf was on the verge of getting too brown on the outside before it was cooking through completely on the inside. If you’re a fan of slightly underbaked treats, no worries, make it in the loaf pan, you’ll be in heaven.
**Caveat: But, I think for optimal results because of the density and richness of the batter (3 bananas, 1 c of PB, and 1 c of almond meal will do that to a recipe!), use a 9 x 13 pan and bake at 325F for approx 40 minutes, but start checking it at 30 and you may have to go til 50 minutes depending on your oven and how well-done you like your breads or cakes.
What’s your favorite cake or bread? I have to say growing up, mine was banana bread. But going gluten/soy-free and vegan puts a damper on most traditional recipes, banana bread included. So I created my own! So tell me all about what makes you say yuuummm! I may just veganize and raw-ify it on the blog!
Stay tuned for 4 ingredient (and 45 second) homemade hummus…..
Hi! I made this (vegan pb banana bread cake) & the raw cocoa snowballs over the weekend & everything turned out wonderful! The cake is so rich! I almost didn't make it because almond flour was so expensive & I was hesitant to grind almonds (I had an immersion blender that did the trick though!). The snowballs are so good that even my meat-eating husband enjoyed them! I will have to keep a stash in the freezer for a healthy fudge fix! Thank you.
Amy
I go through stages of eating a certain food excessively. Right now that would be kale chips but I did go through a banana stage recently too. Maybe it's in the air : )
My weekend indulgence? An iced organic chai tea from Starbucks. I get it unsweetened and add my own agave, yum!
I need to try some of the kale chip goodness on tomatoes and other veggies. I'll let you know how it turns out!
Thanks for popping over to my blog!!
ahahaha, I'm totally with you on the word verification thing. It annoys me so much! Your banana bread cake looks amazing. I just love moist (haha I don't like that word either) and gooey baked goods. Have a lovely night!
Between you and VeggieGirl, you both always make me wanna bake, and I am not a baker…AT ALL! Notice, no yummy baked goods on my blog, ever!! I usually buy my desserts, very un-Martha like of me! Or shall I say, un-Averie like! :)
Running with the family! I ran with a friend yesterday and it was so nice! Lol I'm glad you weren't planning on making any changes to your blog ;)
Oof that banana bread cake looks sooo delicious!
Hmm.. does extra sleep count as smething? lol
OH. M. GEE.
I just made your Chocolate Coconut Snowballs, like I said I was going to, and I have to say I'm officially in love with you! But this is also great news because it means now I'm 2 for 2 with your recipes and from now on I'll just have to make more, because clearly, they are all DELISH!
And you are welcome for the award! I love how inspiring and amazing you and your blog are.
Hope you're having a great weekend, Averie!
XO,
Erin
Banana bread looks super yummy. Going along with your post yesterday in what you like in a blog. I agree with majority of what others said. That each blog is different, with that person or persons :) personality shining through. I enjoy blogs that are fun, honest, provide good information and easy to follow. And good food of course. I like to read many different "styles" of blogs that way I can variety!
Happy Saturday Ms Averie!!! Lovin the cake.. not only does it looks super pretty with the banana slices on top but it sounds relatively easy to make!
I really don't "splurge" on weekends.. in fact, no I def dont. lol Im pretty consistent in what I eat. We usually eat out once on a weekend but thats the only change! I tend to cook a "linner" early din/late lunch on Saturdays and Sundays which is nice.. not something I can do on a weekday.
SOO interesting that you are looking into homeschooling your beautiful daughter. I totally give you credit. I think the educational freedom you have with that is wonderful ALSO its a great way to form a stronger relationship with one another. I support ya… but yeah, teaching can be tough.. I love the kids but to be honest it's a ton of paperwork AND dealing with parents can totally suck at times.
;)Enjoy your weekend.
thanks for your comment! I made it late after the baby was in bed and just cut and ate it!! I added pumpkin in it with the bananas. It tastes like peanut butter cake! It didn't rise nicely and doesn't look as good as yours but I will take a picture next time. I just want a taste too – but then what do you do with the rest of it!!?? I am very active but need more control and to realize alot of what I try is extra/dessert!
ohh what a good Q about the drinks onthe weekends! I sometimes like to get a lattee or cappucino on the weekends as a treat and not to much ever get the during the week. I tend to not want all the extra calories from the milk, but on the weekends I allow myself to get one!!
the recipe looks FANTASTIC!!
i am ALL over that peanut butter banana bread cake :) hello deliciousness in a pan.
I love banana bread! The ingredients of this recipe look great, so I'll make sure to try and make my own
I made it – as a cake. It was soo good!!!
I must have missed something in an earlier post (or I've gotten behind again!) because I didn't see the question about blogging preferences. I'm with the others though – WOOHOO for no word verification! I don't really ever have probs with blogspot, but when I leave comments on Wordpress blogs I always have to hit the "submit" button a few times before it actually goes.
Ok I hope you are working on that recipe book..you are unbelievably talented Averie!
I guess I'd have to say I drink an occasional diet coke (the HORROR!) on the weekend or if I go out to dinner. I know, very bad but it could be worse right?
That's so sweet about the family run! Enjoy it!
I hear you on the nanners! There have been a few times when my grocery store has been out of them, and I basically go into a panic mode haha. So many of my meals and recipes, especially my breakfasts, have bananas in them!
LOVE boat pose! It is such an amazing ab workout!
xxoo
Heather
YUM! This looks amazing! I will be picking up more ninners later today! Have you tried baking this cake with Agave instead of sugar? I will have to experiment!
Thank you again for another great recipe ;)