Banana Pumpkin Spelt Bread

Banana Pumpkin Spelt Bread

I frequently make banana bread for my family because I feel better giving this as a snack to my children rather than a packaged granola bar or other processed food. The problem is our household of five consumes so many bananas that few ever make it to that over-ripe stage necessary for great banana bread. I have since learned to buy extra bananas at the store. I then hide three of them from my little monkeys and their monkey daddy so they may achieve their spotty brown stage for this scrumptious quick bread.

Many banana and pumpkin breads call for large amounts of oil and sugar. I’m happy to share this particular recipe because I created it using a minimal quantity of healthy oil and a relatively low amount of sugar. It uses almond flour and spelt flour which is high in fiber and iron. The bread is therefore dense, but very moist and not too sweet.

Ingredients:

3 super ripe bananas

4 tablespoons virgin coconut oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup honey

¼ cup maple syrup

1 egg

¼ cup apple sauce

1 cup canned pumpkin

¾ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

2 cups spelt flour

½ cup almond flour

½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mash the peeled bananas with a fork. Add the oil, vanilla, honey, maple syrup and egg. Combine with a hand held mixer. Batter will be slightly lumpy because the coconut oil will have solidified some. Mix in apple sauce and pumpkin. Next, add the dry ingredients except for the chocolate chips. Mix until combined but don’t over mix. Finally, stir in chocolate chips. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour 5 minutes or until sides pull away and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool.