I’ve mentioned this before, but one of the most frustrating things about having a dairy-free diet is how difficult it is to bake. Because of this I’ve done very little baking since going dairy-free in November. We used to bake cookies, brownies, or some other dessert almost every weekend. Lately my “baking” has been limited to dairy-free Puppy Chow (or Muddy Buddies, depending on where you’re from), and while it is addictingly delicious, it has gotten a bit repetitive.
We had some bananas left over from last week that were quickly reaching their expiration date. Naturally this made me think of banana bread, but I knew I’d have to make quite a few substitutions (butter, milk, chocolate chips) on my usual recipe. Luckily, I had run across this recipe a few days ago and was happy to see that it didn’t require a lot a specialty ingredients to make up for the lack of dairy products.
Double Chocolate Banana Bread
Adapted from Always Order Dessert
Yield 1- 9×5” loaf
Ingredients
2 overripe bananas, mashed until smooth
1/3 cup oil*
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup non-dairy milk**
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips***
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×5” nonstick loaf pan with baking spray or vegetable oil, and set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together bananas, oil, sugar, vanilla, and milk until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth. Fold in chocolate chips, then pour into prepared pan.
Bake about 45 to 55 minutes, or until cake has risen and is slightly cracked, and a toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool in pan 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edges to loosen and remove from pan. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.
*I used vegetable but peanut, light olive oil, or even coconut oil (although it will slightly alter the flavor) are fine.
**I used almond creamer only because it was the smallest container I could buy. Other types are fine too such as a coconut, soy, cashew, or rice milk.
***I used dairy-free chocolate chips since regular chocolate chips are often made with milk.
I was very impressed with how well this loaf turned out. I know a lot of people on diets claim that their low-fat/gluten-free/reduced sugar/etc. recipe tastes just as good as the original but their claims often fall short. This bread is incredibly moist–almost cakey. It’s relatively rich as well, but since I’ve been limited in my chocolate options it certainly hit the spot. I honestly have to remind myself that this loaf is dairy-free and vegan-friendly. This recipe will certainly gain a permanent spot in my collection of recipes.