Simple vegan banana bread

I like my banana’s unripe. As in almost green, and still a little on the firm side. Actually, you just have two types of people:
1. Those who like their banana’s with brown spots, love the mushiness and the overly present banana smell and flavor.
2. And on the other hand, people who like their banana’s on the green-yellow side of the spectrum, still a bit firm and without an overly banana taste –> Meee! 

Whenever my banana’s turn too yellow – or even brownish, the horror! – I don’t eat them anymore. I hate throwing food away though, especially if it is still okay to eat. So, then I am left with a couple of options on how to use those overripe babies: nicecream, in a smoothie, or use them in baking! Which is my favorite option, obviously. See example 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Yep, I love using banana’s in baked goods! 

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved adding mashed banana’s to cakes. When I was younger I used to just add them to those pre-packaged boxed cake mixes, then this banana bread became my favorite, and now I created this super simple one! A mashup of all the banana bread recipes I’ve ever tried (a lot!) and uses only 6 ingredients, of which all are staples in most households, I think.

This banana bread is nice and sweet, without using any additional sweeteners except for the banana’s themselves. If you like your baked goods a little sweeter, you could add some coconut sugar to the batter or just make the banana bread as it is and top the slices with a sweet spread after baking.

Simple vegan banana bread
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 50 mins
Total time: 1 hour
Yield: 1 loaf (about 12 slices)

Ingredients
3 cups (365 gram) flour of choice (I always use whole wheat spelt flour. I have found that flours containing gluten work best for this recipe.)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 large, over-ripe banana’s (the browner they are, the sweeter and more intense the banana flavor is)
1/2 cup (120 ml) lukewarm water
3/4 cup (160 gram) liquid coconut oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Instructions
1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
2. In a big bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and cinnamon).
3. In a blender, blend the banana’s, water, coconut oil and vanilla extract until smooth.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients bowl and mix until a batter has formed.
6. Put the mixture in a (silicone) cake pan and bake for about 50 minutes. Let cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack. Keeps well in the freezer, but is best when not completely cooled.

Nutritional information per slice (1 out of 12)
192 kcals
12.9 gram fat
of which 11.6 gram saturated
16.5 gram carbohydrates
of which 2.5 gram fiber and 5 gram sugar
1.7 gram protein