Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Growing up, I always loved my Mom's banana bread. Her recipe was a simple one, found in her 1946 edition of The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book. Her one change (after discovering that her great-grandson was nut allergic) was to swap the walnuts for chocolate chips. Needless to say, at the family picnic where this change was first introduced, it went over big with all my young cousins, and we adults didn't get much of the bread. Since discovering that I have Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity, I have been wanting to modify this recipe. Finally, last month, I managed to get my own copy of The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book and have worked to update this recipe to be gluten-free.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

3 ripe bananas (4 if they are small)
3/4 cup coconut sugar
2 eggs
2 cups (325 g -- yes, you should weigh it) Maninis Multiuso Multi-Purpose Flour or Namaste Perfect Blend Flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup Enjoy Life Foods Megachunks chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and grease/oil a 5x9 inch bread pan*.
2. Crush the bananas with a potato masher or fork.
3. Add the eggs (beaten light), sugar, salt, baking soda and mix well.
4. Add the chocolate chips and mix again.
5. Add the flour and mix well.
6. Fill the pan.
7. Bake for 60 minutes in a convection oven or 60-70 minutes in a regular oven.
8. Remove the bread from the pan and let it cool completely on a wire rack.
9. Slice and enjoy!

*My bread pan is only 4.5x8.5 inches and it works fine. Also, a trick my Mom does is line the pan with foil and oils the foil.

Vegan options for gluten-free apple cake recipe

Okay, so after talking with a friend who has to be gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free, I decided to try converting my Cathy's Gluten-Free Apple Cake recipe to a vegan version.

So, here are the changes I made:

• Instead of using semi-sweet chocolate chips (yes, I know you can get dairy-free chips), I used 1 cup of unsweetened, flaked coconut.


• Instead of 2 eggs, I used the following substitutions:
  
  
  
  • 4 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce + 1 teaspoon baking powder.
  
  
  • 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed meal + 3 tablespoons hot water, mixed together, and let sit for about 10 minutes or so.
    
  
  

I didn't make any other changes to the recipe, and brought some to work today to share. Some of those who tried it had dietary needs (like my gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free friend), and others are real foodies, but all agreed that Cathy's Gluten-Free, Vegan Apple Cake was very, very good.

What's next for my apple cake recipe? Well, I would like to reduce the amount of refined sugar so I may try just using less or trying a couple of different kinds of sweetener (maple syrup and/or agavee syrup have been suggested as possibilities). I also thought I might try using some chopped crystaline ginger in place of the coconut. It seems that the sky's the limit, and this is how you make a recipe your own.

Cathy's Gluten-Free Apple Cake

Although any variety of apple works in this cake, I like to use a combination of varieties, particularly Golden Delicious, Criterion, and McIntosh.

After learning that my grandson is allergic to nuts and that I am gluten-intolerant, I decided to modify my original apple cake recipe and make it both nut and gluten free. Enjoy! Feel free to let me know what you think.

Bowl 1:

• 5 cups peeled and diced apples
  
• 2 cups sugar
  
• 1/3 cup salad oil
  
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  
• 2 eggs, well beaten
  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Bowl 2:

• either
  
  • 3 cups commercially prepared gluten-free flour mix (I use King Arthur Flour glutenfree multi-purpose flour)
  
  -or-
  
  • 2 cups brown rice flour
    
  • 2/3 cup potato starch (NOT potato flour)
    
  • 1/3 cup tapioca starch or tapioca flour
  
  
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
  
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
  
• 1 tablespoon xanthum gum

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In Bowl 1, mix apples and sugar thoroughly. Add oil, chocolate chips,
eggs, and vanilla. In Bowl 2, mix dry ingredients together. Add Bowl 2 to Bowl 1 and mix thoroughly. Bake in a greased 13x9 inch pan for 70 minutes (but start watching the cake for doneness at 1 hour).

When done, this cake will be dry to the touch on top and just starting to pull away from the sides. It will still be moist inside.

Serve frosted or unfrosted. This cake is one of those that you can pretty much finish and serve however you like. If you want to frost it, a sour cream frosting is very nice. Whipping cream or ice cream go very well with it, too. My favorite way to eat it, though, is with no frosting at all.