Archives for bananas

Best Banana Bread EVER

sliced banana bread

This little gem is my partner’s answer to a late night sweet snack attack. It is AMAZING. He made it once before and it was good, but this second time around it was perfect. We both felt it was the best banana bread ever, and believe me we eat a lot of banana bread!

1/2 c Earth Balance Organic Coconut Spread
1 c sugar (your choice; maple sugar, maple syrup, powdered fructose, etc)
4-5 ripe bananas
3 tbsp water
1 3/4 c whole wheat flour
1 c all purpose white flour
2 1/2 tea baking powder
1/2 tea salt
1 c almond milk + 1 tbsp white vinegar; let sit for 5-10 minutes
1/3 c chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

banana bread uncooked

Preheat oven to 350° F

Prepare 2 – 8″ cake pans by spraying with cooking oil spray.

Combine coconut spread, sugar, bananas and water in a stand up mixer or large mixing bowl. Beat until creamy and all combined. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients with a wire whisk.

Alternate adding the dry mix and soy mix to the banana mixture, stirring well after each addition. Start and end with the flour mixture.

Pour into the prepared cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (This is where you can make one pan with nuts and one pan plain. Simply mix in chopped nuts to half the batter before pouring into second pan.)

Cool, cut and serve!

The cake pans work really well and bake the bread very evenly.

banana bread

Banana and Coconut Cream Pie

Are you drooling yet? I was when my sister sent me the original recipe! The absolutely amazing part about this pie is that it is made without any dairy AND is probably better than any I’ve tried over the years. : O

That’s right, dairy free and amazing! Full fat coconut milk is my new best friend. 😀

First off, don’t let the ingredient list and amount of steps scare you away. It is actually very easy to make, but you should allow for a full 24 hours to make it, to allow fridge-firming time, etc.

Plan ahead: Place the Mimiccreme box in the fridge the day before OR in the freezer for at least 45 minutes before using. If you want extra whipped topping, also place a can of full fat coconut milk in the fridge the day before as well.

8″ pie crust
12 graham cracker sheets ground in a food processor to make 1.5 cups graham cracker crumbs
3-5 tbsp. vegan butter or margarine (I used 3 and I think 5 would have made a firmer crust)
1 small banana

Add the butter to the crumbs and incorporate using your hands until all the crumbs are covered in butter. Gently start pressing the crumb and butter mixture into the pie pan to form the crust. Bake crust at 350°F in toaster oven or oven for 5-10 minutes or until the crust starts to turn golden. Once the pie crust has baked, thinly slice a banana and place slices onto bottom of crust.

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Banana Coconut Filling

1 tbsp agar agar (vegan gelatin)
3/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup full fat coconut milk (this can does not need to be refrigerated, that is for the topping)
2 tbsp coconut oil
Process the below ingredients in a food processor or blender and set aside.
14 oz. pkg. silken tofu
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 small banana

Heat the agar agar, maple syrup and coconut milk over high heat until it starts to boil. Stir constantly for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and add coconut oil, stirring until dissolved. (I keep my coconut oil in the fridge cause it melts in the hot AZ pantry in the summer at 80°F, so it’s completely solid.)

Add the heated mixture to the food processor containing the tofu, salt, vanilla and banana. Process until creamy. Pour into prepared crust. Add a few more banana slices to the pie filling if you’d like. Place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours to allow to set and firm up.

Creamy Banana Topping
1 box Mimiccreme’s Healthy Top (I got mine at Whole Foods – place in fridge overnight or freezer for at least 30 minutes)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 small ripe banana (processed until smooth and then refrigerated for 30 minutes)
refrigerated bowl and whisk/beaters

Place all the cold contents into an electric mixer and process on high speed for about 3 minutes, or until desired thickness is obtained. Spread over pie, and pile it on! This actually made quite a bit more topping than I needed, so I froze the rest – we’ll see how that works out for a future use. Maybe I can use it like Cool Whip and put it on my Coconut Banana Ice Cream?

Refrigerate pie overnight before slicing to allow for maximum firmness!

Now, you can also add even more whipped cream – but I didn’t. I figured we had enough calories! But that is where the chilled can of full fat coconut milk comes in. Simply whip it at full speed until desired thickness and serve as a whipped topping. You can also add your favorite sweetener if desired before whipping. Do this right before serving the pie.

Also, I added a few slices of fresh banana to each piece before serving. 

While I was photographing this slice, I had a hard time NOT EATING IT. It wasn’t holding up very well in the AZ heat anyway, so I did this slice a favor. I DID start eating it! I had to save it!! It was so freaking good. It may or may not have been my breakfast… [burp]. I will definitely use more butter on the crust next time to help it hold together better. It tasted amazing, but it didn’t come out of the pie pan very easily.