(Vegan) Banana Bread

I stood in the middle of my kitchen last Sunday and said "I think I'm going to bake something today." That was before breakfast, with no plan. We were getting hit with a lot of snow later that night, and I really like baking or making soup on snowy days. I always have bananas in my freezer, so vegan banana bread happened!

It's based on a Martha Stewart recipe I found once when I was going to a dinner party with at least one vegan in attendance. This is maybe the third variation I've tried. I think it's the best one yet.

Ingredients:

• 4 ripe bananas

• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

• 1/3 cup unsweetened almond coconut milk

• 2 teaspoons vanilla

• 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed

• 1/3 cup water

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 cup flour

• 1 cup almond flour

• 1 cup sliced almonds

• 1 cup unsweetened coconut

Trying to keep my coconut oil melted in a bowl of hot water.

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
   

2. Spread the almonds and coconut out on a sheet pan and bake (toast) for around 6 minutes. Sprinkle the flaxseed over the water and put it to the side for at least five minutes.
   

3. Combine the rest of the dry ingredients in a bowl. Then whisk in the flaxseed mixture, coconut oil, almond coconut milk, and vanilla. Mash the bananas and then mix them in. (Or throw them in the bowl and go at he whole thing with a potato masher.)
   

4. Mix in the the coconut and almonds and pour the batter into the loaf pan.
   

5. Bake for 65-70 minutes (until a toothpick comes out clean). Cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then on a rack

Notes on this recipe:

• The flax/water combo is an egg substitute! It keeps the cake from being super dense.

• I didn't use a hand mixer; the ingredients are super easy to combine and I wanted there to be some chunks of banana in the cake.

• The almonds and coconut are both optional. If you use them, toasting them is optional as well, but people seem to really like it when I toast them! I think walnuts would also be delicious here.

• I used almond coconut milk because that's what I always have around, but either almond milk or coconut milk would work!

• This is the first time that I've used almond flour and it made the cake so delicious! I've made this cake with all regular flour and it's been good, but the almond flour was amazing.

Reviews:

"You are INCREDIBLE."

"Holy hell. I want to eat the whole thing in one sitting."

Disclaimer: These may both be from the same person.

This was about 20 minutes after it came out of the oven. I wandered over to my friend's place and made them try it with me. 10/10 would make again.