Banana Bread, the vegan way

I had a bunch of overripe bananas just sitting on my kitchen counter, getting browner and browner by the minute. Rather than toss them because they’d gotten too soft to enjoy with my lunches, I decided to turn them into banana bread. Of course, right?

This recipe comes from Isa Chandra Moskowitz on the vegan website Post Punk Kitchen. I’ve tried (and LOVED) some of their vegan cupcake recipes and had been wanting to try something new from their site. This seemed like the perfect time.

I veered from the recipe just a tiny bit — using almond milk instead of soy, and regular white vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar, because that’s what I had in the house — so all I could do was hope that I hadn’t messed anything up and that the banana bread wouldn’t suck.

Let me tell you… this banana bread recipe very much does NOT suck. In fact, it was delicious. Moist and flavorful. And if you enjoy a piece or two on the same day you baked it, maybe a couple hours after it’s come out of the oven, you also get to enjoy that yummy contrast of the awesome crunch of the crust with the soft sweetness of the bread inside. I love that crunchy crust. Nom nom nom!

BANANA BREAD

Yield: 1 loaf of bread

INGREDIENTS

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/2 cup brown sugar (I like dark brown)

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup non-hydrogenated margarine (like Earth Balance), at room temperature*

3 very ripe bananas, mashed well*

1/4 cup vanilla soy milk, mixed with 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar*

1 teaspoon pure vanilla (extract)*

Banana bread batter, all ready for the oven.

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees F.

2. Spray an 8×4 bread pan with non-stick cooking spray, or lightly coat with margarine.

3. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and spices.

4. Cream together the margarine and sugars. Add bananas, soy milk/apple cider vinegar, and vanilla.

5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix well.

6. Pour batter into pan. Bake for 1 hour to an hour and 10 minutes. Toothpick inserted in the center of the bread should come out clean or with only light crumbs.

Banana bread, hot out of the oven

(Depending on the heat of your oven, maybe check it before an hour is up. I set my timer for an hour and my bread was already well done by that point. If I’d gone to an hour and 10 minutes, I think I would have dried out the bread! It all depends on how hot your oven gets, I think.)

7. Allow to cool in the pan for about 20 to 30 minutes, then remove from pan and let rest on a wire rack until cooled completely.

Enjoy!

BAKING RULES NOTES:

* In the direct recipe link provided above, Isa makes suggestions for substitutions for the margarine, if you prefer. One option is to use 1/4 cup canola oil and 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce. Some visitors to the site also threw in suggestions, based on their own baking experiments (check out the comments section on that page for everyone’s ideas). One suggestion was to use 1/4 cup applesauce and 1/4 cup margarine. I usually like to use applesauce in my baking, but I didn’t happen to have any in the house and was too lazy to go out in the snow to get some, so I used what I had in the house — 1/4 cup margarine and 1/4 cup canola oil. I was worried the bread wouldn’t be as light as I wanted it, but it still turned out great.

Banana bread, sliced and ready to eat! Nom nom nom.

* For the bananas, it doesn’t really say what size so I guesstimated. The recipe calls for 3 bananas, but I used 5 because mine were small in size. I thought the end result had decent banana flavor.

* I didn’t have soy milk in the house (and have been trying to cut back on my soy intake), so I used vanilla almond milk instead. I was out of apple cider vinegar, so I used plain ol’ white distilled vinegar. Both of those changes worked just fine.

* For a little extra flavor boost, I used a little extra vanilla: 1 1/2 teaspoons instead of just 1 teaspoon.

* If you like a little crunch, you could probably add 1/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans. (Or more, if you prefer.)

* If you have different dietary needs, I think it would be more than okay to experiment with different flours (rice flour, whole wheat pastry flour, etc.), organic sugars or sugar substitutes (like brown rice syrup), and different types of milk (almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, etc.) and still end up with a terrific banana bread. Give it a try!