Banana Bread (ENG)

During this quarantine, the most recurrent debate of all was on whether to make classic banana bread or chocolate banana bread (it got bad: blackmail, power games,...). In the end, we finally found the solution to please everyone's tastes: a classic banana bread with a chocolate heart.

If any of you don't like chocolate (?), just skip it!

This banana bread makes the perfect breakfast. It's even better if you have time to warm it up in the oven 5 minutes before enjoying it.

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp chia seeds (to make the "egg")

• 3 bananas

• 70 g almond butter

• 100g dark chocolate

• 3 Tbsp melted coconut oil

• 2 Tbsp maple syrup (or rice syrup or agave)

• 80g coconut sugar

• 175ml unsweetened plant-based milk (I use almond or cashew)

• 190g ground almonds (which you buy or you can get by simply placing the almonds into a food processor)

• 140g oats

• 115g flour (you can use the one you prefer, I use whole wheat flour)

• 65g chopped walnuts

• ½ tsp salt

• 1 Tbsp baking powder

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 180°C. Take a loaf pan (25x10 cm) and line it with parchment paper.

2. Prepare the chia "egg" by mixing a tablespoon of chia seeds and 2.5 tablespoons of water. Let it rest for 5-10 minutes.

3. In the meanwhile, melt the coconut oil in a saucepan over low heat.

4. Mash the bananas with a fork.

5. Place the mashed bananas, the "egg", the almond butter, the coconut oil, the plant-based milk, the coconut sugar, the maple syrup and the salt in a bowl and whisk to combine.

6. Add the flour, the oats, the ground almonds and the baking powder to the bowl. Mix well.

7. Add 35g of walnuts to the bowl and mix again.

8. Chop the chocolate into medium sized chunks (they don't have to be super small since they will melt anyway). Keep aside.

9. Pour half the mix into the loaf pan, then add the chocolate chunks and pour the rest of the mix. Cover with the rest of the walnuts.

10. Bake for 1 hour/1 hour and 10 minutes or until the top of the loaf gets golden brown and crackly. To make sure it's ready, a knife should come out almost clean.

11. Let it cool before slicing and eating it, otherwise it will crumble.

Notes:

You can freeze your banana bread for up to a month. In that case, it's better to cut the slices before freezing it.